Wrath of the Rockies
by Minaethiel
Summary: Colorado is number ten on the leader board, though she would, and does, kill to be higher. When a chance comes for her to beat even Carolina, but at an unimaginable cost, will the leader board mean more to her than her team mates?
1. Chapter 1: A Rude Awakening

_**Hello readers =) let it be known that the brilliant creations of both Halo and Red vs Blue do not belong to me, but their respective creators, Bungie/343, and Rooster Teeth.**_

_**Chapter 1: Rude Awakening**_

"Good morning, Agent Colorado! Please report to the training room floor at 0900 hours for your match against Agent North Dakota."

I sleepily lifted my head and gazed at the clock as FILSS gave me yet another unwelcome morning wake-up call. The time was only 0500 hours; not yet dawn. I groaned in dismay, but realized that FILSS's early greeting might actually allow me to get to the showers first. Well, maybe before most everyone. Agent Carolina was probably already up and in the training room running some sims before the matches of the day kicked her out. It was a typical routine of the Director's favorite kiss-ass.

Sighing, I savored another minute in my warm bed and hopped out, grabbing my under armor (because everyone knows that Freelancer armor chafes; bad), and headed for the showers. Sure enough upon arriving in the showers, Agent Carolina was dressing in her under armor and preparing to get her actual armor in the armory. As I entered, she turned her head to me and narrowed her eyes slightly. Any deviation in her routine was suspicious to her it seemed.

"Colorado. You're up early this morning. Bed not warm enough for you?"

Her tone is a slight sneer, and I shoot her a haughty look.

"Plenty warm, Carolina. Was the Director's bed not warm enough for _you?_"

At this her glare intensified and she stalked over. As for me, I placed my weight against a locker and crossed my arms, a satisfied smirk on my face. I had never liked Carolina. From the second we had met she gave off this holier-than-thou attitude. She may be number one on the leader board, with me down at number ten, but hey, at least I didn't kiss ass to earn my place. I could name a couple of other Freelancers who deserved to be number one, such as York and North. However, since the Director was too busy pruning his precious number one, they were paid little to no mind it seemed. Such a shame. One day I'd prove that I deserved to have the attention Carolina did, one way or another.

"Keep up with the attitude, Colorado. It's going to get you nowhere on that board. Besides, do you think the Director even cares about what happens to you after the last mission you went on?"

Ouch. My smirk waned a bit, and a bitter fire lit up in my green eyes. How dare she mention that?! Was it MY fault that Nevada broke cover too soon? Was it MY fault that the sniper assigned to me, Arizona, had been an incompetent shot? It wasn't my fault that they had gone and gotten themselves killed. We had a mission to accomplish, and since neither of them had done it, I had had to step in and improvise to do it. It was thanks to MY efforts that Project Freelancer now had solid intel on the strength of Insurrectionist forces on our next target. However upon returning, the Director had berated me for leaving my team to die, trying to tell me that though the mission was important, it was unnecessary to succeed on, and that two agents had died for menial information.

I opened my mouth for a biting retort to wipe the smug look off of Carolina's face, but was interrupted as someone cleared their throat. Both Carolina and I turned to see Agent North Dakota standing there, awkwardly holding his under armor.

"Am I… interrupting something important here, ladies?"

Carolina narrowed her eyes at me, her glare practically spitting fire.

"Nothing at all, North. Just making sure that Colorado knows where her place is in this project."

With this final bite, she stalked out of the locker room. I glared after her, an angry scowl on my lips and my brown hair hiding my face as I dipped my head slightly. North gave me a sympathetic glance. His sister South and I had been roommates until receiving separate rooms. South disliked Carolina as much as I did, and we had bonded quickly. I often tagged along with the twins for recreation when we were onboard the _Mother of Invention_, and the three of us had become close. Though I'd never admit it to his face, or even to South, I had a crush on North. It was a weakness I just couldn't shake. With his tousled blonde hair and those bright blue eyes, he had the looks to go alongside his kind and protective personality. He and South were the only ones who had truly been there for me after my "botched" mission.

Sighing, I turned away from North before he could see my expression, but it seemed too late, for he set a strong and comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Don't let Carolina get to you, Colorado. You know how she is."

I grabbed his hand as I spun around to face him. His blue eyes sparkled with concern, and his lips were turned down into a concerned frown. I hated it when he was concerned; he was so much more attractive when he was smiling, though I welcomed his comforting touch.

"I know that she's the Director's favorite pet. She's like a parrot too; always repeating what she says and constantly squawking about one thing or another."

North laughed, and I was glad to lighten his mood up.

"Anyways North, are you ready to get trashed today? Or should I go easy on you?"

My tone was light and joking, a side that only he and South could truly bring out. All the other Freelancers figured me for someone with a minimal sense of humor, but they never got to saw me with North or South. I always felt self-conscious around the other Freelancers. I had to keep them guessing about me; keep them wondering what my special skill was. York had lock-picking. Maine had his brute strength. Wash was a good detective. Carolina seemed to be good at everything (much as I hated to admit it). Wyoming was a fantastic sniper. What did I have? Nothing special. I wasn't exceedingly good at hand-to-hand combat. My lockdown paint scores were average. My missions either went well or failed, and I had no stellar service with Freelancer so far. I felt like a placeholder most of the time.

However I could be a worse placeholder. I wasn't unlucky like Arizona had been. Before he died, he had been number thirty-five. Talk about a tough life; you hardly got to go on any missions when you were that low on the board. The most dangerous one was probably them shopping for groceries. I had worked hard to get to number ten, and though I wanted to be higher, I was pretty content to be the top twenty percent of all the agents.

North smirked at my short span of attention and snapped a finger in front of my eyes, jarring me out of my thoughts.

"If you're done day dreaming for the moment, Colorado, I would be happy to inform you that the floor is going to be your new best friend after today."

He threw a smirk over his shoulder and headed for the showers, no doubt having the same idea of a morning routine as I did. Chuckling to myself, I stepped into the women's shower area and stripped off my nightclothes. The warm water was a welcome substitute to my bed, and I sighed in bliss as it cascaded down my back. I heard North laugh.

"Enjoying yourself enough over there, Colorado?"

I rolled my eyes and smirked.

"Don't get any wise ideas, Agent North Dakota. I think you're feeling just as good after being forced out of bed so early."

Another laugh was my answer, and we both continued bathing in a comfortable silence. Afterwards, we both walked to the armory together, joking about the most recent match, which put Carolina against Wyoming.

"I swear you could see the steam coming out of Carolina's ears. All Wyoming was doing was joking around! I tell you, North, you missed out big time when Carolina finally hog-tied Wyoming with nothing but her bandolier."

"Colorado, you missed the part where Wyoming pulled a leap frog over Carolina's head and kicked her royal highness's ass on the ground."

Both Freelancers turned to see Agent South Dakota swaggering up to them.

"Morning South. You're up early. You missed the fireworks in the locker room between Carolina and Colorado."

I rolled my eyes and walked forward, with the twins following on my tail. I could hear the glee in South's voice as she caught up to me.

"Oh, don't think you get to run away without telling me what happened. Tell me you told that bitch off?"

I couldn't help but appease my best friend. Throwing her a saucy smirk, I replied in true Colorado fashion.

"Do you want the part before or after I asked her if the Director's bed was warm enough for her?"

This sent all three of us into a gale of laughter, with me filling South in about Carolina's shitty attitude in-between fits of laughter. The armory came up all too soon, and within moments the three of us were busying ourselves with suiting up. I sighed in contentment looking at my armor. The newest Raider armor had been my choice of gear, emblazed with a cobalt blue for the main color, and a coral trim for the secondary. The visor for my helmet was a burnt orange that nearly matched the trim. Tucking that under my right arm, I turned to the twins.

"Think we'll have time for breakfast before the match?"

My answer came in the form of yet another "helpful" bing from FILSS.

"Agents Colorado and North Dakota, please report to the training room floor."

Ignoring my grumbling stomach, I placed my helmet over my head.

"Looks like it's time to get to work."

_**Hello again, everyone :3 this is a relatively short chapter by my standards, but I wanted to introduce you to who Colorado is. She's spunky, she doesn't take shit from anyone, but she's got a softer side that she doesn't want people seeing. Originally I wanted her to get even more on Carolina's bad side by going after York, but North's personality compliments Colorado's more fiery one. R&R?**_


	2. Chapter 2: Opportunity

_**On to chapter 2! Once again, neither Halo, nor RvB belong to me. They belong to Bungie/343 and Rooster Teeth respectively. For this story I will try and do weekly updates; if that doesn't happen then chapters will come as I write them. I have another story that I need to attend to as well, so hopefully I'll make an alternating upload schedule soon :P until then, enjoy chapter 2 of Wrath of the Rockies! Oh, and I would like to address my first two reviews ^-^**_

**_The Happy Riolu; first of all, great name xD Riolu FTW. Secondly, I'm glad to see that you found the first chapter interesting =D I hope to hold that interest as I write._**

**_Ayane458; Yes both are a bit out of character, due to Colorado creating quite a presence. Carolina obviously doesn't like her, and North has a bit of a crush on her and doesn't want to push Col away by disagreeing with her rash judgements on Carolina. As the story goes on I'll be trying to keep all the agents in canon character as best as I can. As for the bed comment, none of the agents know about her situation with the Director, so it was a fun little jab for Col to inadvertently hit her with xD_**

**_Thank you both for your reviews! On with the story :O_**

_**Chapter 2**_

The walk to the training room proved to be an eventful one. We came across several other Freelancers who wished both North and myself luck in our match today. Most of them were understandably rooting for North. He was quite popular among his fellow Freelancers; no one seemed to have a problem with him. To be fair the only one I had a problem with was Carolina, but I was far less social than North was when it came to our fellow agents. I acknowledged the good lucks with a dip of my head and a few mumbled thanks, preferring to let North handle the observers. He had his helmet on, but as he looked at me I could feel his amusement at my lack of social prowess. I gave North a playful shove and halted him for a second.

"Say North, I'll race you to the training room. Loser takes cold showers for a week. Deal?"

"You're on Colorado. Hope you're ready to shower in Antarctica for the next week!"

I chuckled slightly, and took off sprinting, and the surprised exclamation of North told me that I had caught him off guard. Together we raced through the hallways, and I nearly bowled Agent Indiana over in the process. Slamming the training room door, I turned to see North touch the door as well.

"Hey, you cheated!"

"North, there were never any rules to this little contest. Enjoy Antarctica!"

I gave him a little wave and made my way out to the training room floor., North right on my tail. At opposite ends were tables with all manner of guns, and all had lockdown paint rounds next to them. I groaned in dismay as I caught sight of a shotgun, knowing full well what North would pick for the lockdown paint scenario. However, I also caught site of my personal favorite weapon: the SMG. Quick fire, decent sized clip, and the ability to wield two of them at once had attracted me to the compact weapon. With how close range we'd be during this fight, the SMG was my obvious choice. Avoiding his shotgun while trying to get close enough for my own shots was going to be a challenge though. I would have to count on being both fast and stealthy in this exercise.

Casually looking at the spectator box, I caught site of several Freelancers, most notably being South and Carolina. The two women were making sure not to get into a conversation it seemed, and I couldn't help but chuckle and shake my head. What caught my sight though, was the presence of the Director. Why he would show up to a basic match was beyond me, but I had to impress him. Carolina's latest jab about my botched mission rang in my ears, and I put on a determined scowl. North was currently number five on the leader board. If I could beat him, this particular match might move me up a rank or two. Maybe he'd consider putting me on a mission to redeem myself.

I cracked my neck and shook my shoulders, allowing myself a quick stretch to limber up. I grabbed my SMG and took a pistol as a secondary, loading both up and making sure I had plenty of extra clips. The pistol strapped easily to my thigh, and the SMG felt nice and familiar in my hands.

"Today's match is between Agent Colorado and Agent North Dakota. The first agent to win three of the five matches will be the victor for today. Commencing Lockdown Paint Scenario."

I watched as the familiar stone pillars rose out of the floor, blocking off my line of site on North. As I expected, he had taken a shotgun and a pistol.

"Round one commence in three… two… one… Begin!"

At FILSS's prompt, I slid easily into the maze of stone. The whole grid looked to be a ten by ten square. Not large, but not a size to scoff at. There was plenty of room for both North and myself to maneuver. I leapt and somersaulted to another pillar, and heard the blast of a shotgun as paint splattered the floor where I had just been. _That was close. I need to get him to waste his ammo._ Cautiously, I peeked around the corner to my right and saw no sign of North.

"Colorado, that's insulting. Do you really think I'd stay in the same place after shooting?"

North's voice was immediately to my left, and I jumped on top of the pillar my back was against, getting barely out of range of North's shotgun as he fired. Whipping my SMG around, I unloaded towards North's position. However, he was not number five without reason. He expertly dashed between cover to get out of my line of site. When I finally had to reload, he whipped his pistol around and began firing at me. I scrambled to get off of the exposed pillar, but was too slow, as a round struck me right in the knee.

"Shit!"

I fell off and clumsily tried to hack at the paint, but it was stuck tight. I started to panic as I heard North coming towards me, but re-loaded my SMG and brought my pistol up to bear as well. If I was going to go down, I'd go down in style. Looking up, I saw North's shadow reach over the rock, and that was when I made my move. I hopped out of cover and fired everything I had at him, catching North in the abdomen and the right leg. I thought I had him, until I heard his shotgun go off and the world went black. I did, however, feel myself impact the ground, and FILSS's voice came through my helmet all muffled.

"Round one, complete! Point Agent North Dakota!"

I growled in frustration, my mood only getting worse as I felt water douse me. Slowly, I started to see light as the water washed away the paint. North too had been sprayed with water, but had taken his helmet off to give me a smug smile. Taking my own helmet off for a second, I gave him an only half-joking glare of annoyance, and stalked off to refill my ammo for round two. Replacing my helmet on my head, I slammed in two new clips for my pistol and SMG, and took my position.

"Round two commence in three… two… one… Begin!"

I had no strategy in mind now; I just wanted- no, NEEDED- to take North down as soon as possible. I sprinted towards his starting position and leapt onto a pillar, catching sight of him out of the corner of my left eye. Pulling out my pistol, I took aim at the pillar he had used as refuge, and waited. Eventually, I saw his shadow shift, as if his head was about to pop out. By the time he turned his head around the corner, I was already gone.

Looking at him from the side, I could tell he was tense about where I had gone. Luckily for him, he didn't have to wait long as a single shot of paint covered his visor in pink lockdown paint.

"Round two, complete! Point Agent Colorado!"

I smirked under my helmet and walked over to North, who was being doused by water. Luckily, none was administered to me since I hadn't taken a shot. After the paint cleared, I offered him a hand.

"Lucky first round, North. Now that I'm awake, we both know who's going to win."

I could hear the laughter in his voice as he replied.

"Be sure to have my victory party ready, Colorado."

I smacked his shoulder and walked back to my station. There was only a clip of SMG ammo left, but I already had three others on me. I pocketed the last one and re-filled my pistol, stepping over and waiting for FILSS to start the next round.

"Round three commence in three… two… one… Begin!"

Back and forth North and I went. On round three I continued my win streak with a lucky potshot to North's foot, which cemented it to the ground. Effectively immobilized, it was easy to outmaneuver him and finish him off with a burst from my SMG. However in round four, North tripped me as I was running into cover and plastered my whole torso to the ground, finishing me off with a face full of shotgun pellets. Finally, the fifth round was upon us.

"Score is now tied at two points Agent Colorado, and two points Agent North Dakota. Round five commence in three… two… one… Begin!"

This was it. The last round of the match, and the last ditch effort to prove to the Director that I wasn't an incompetent agent. I deserved to be in the spotlight for once. Everything I had worked for so far was leading to this moment. Cracking my neck for what felt like the umpteenth time, I rushed forward to find a foothold in the grid. North was smart, and both he and I had observed each other's strategies this whole fight. To win, I needed to think up something new. A decoy perhaps? No Freelancer got to use their armor abilities while training (had to make the field somewhat even after all). However no one said using the pillars themselves was a crime. Drawing my hand back, I slammed it into the pillar and drew out a handful of rock shards. No doubt that North had heard that though. Time to put my plan into action. The only gamble would be if he saw the rocks flying from my position. Too late to worry about the rocks being seen now though I suppose. One by one, I tossed the shards over to another pillar, and heard deliberate footsteps headed for my intersection. Abruptly, they stopped. Puzzled, I risked a glance around the corner… and promptly took a paintball to the face.

"Round five, complete! Victory goes to Agent North Dakota!"

I felt disappointment rush through me, and the cold spray of water only added insult to injury. The Director probably wouldn't even consider me for a mission now. As soon as the paint had cleared, I took my helmet off and stormed out of the training room floor, not even stopping to wait for North to catch up. It was childish, but a part of me thought that North should have just taken the bait and let me take him down. He knew how much the leader board meant to me, and how much I wanted to prove myself after the loss of Nevada and Arizona. Instead of heading to the showers like most do after a training exercise, I went straight up to the observation room where the other Freelancers were.

Walking in, I could finally get a head count. Wyoming, Carolina, York, and CT were there, and Wash and South had passed me on the way in. Their match was scheduled for right after my match with North. The Director was nowhere to be seen. I went and stood next to Wyoming. Though we weren't by any means what I'd call 'friends,' Wyoming was a funny guy, and I enjoyed his wisecracking. I prayed for Carolina not to open her mouth at my failure, but it was inevitable as soon as York opened his.

"Great match, Colorado. I hadn't thought to use the rocks as a distraction before. Might have to steal that little move from you."

I nodded at him gratefully.

"Thank you, York. I did my best, but North didn't fall for it. Maybe next time."

"If there IS a next time, Colorado."

At once, the room was swept into a tense silence, even with the two battling Freelancers below. Carolina was known for both her skills, and her ability to hold grudges. She obviously hadn't forgotten about our little catfight from this morning. I narrowed my eyes at the tealish Freelancer and set my helmet down before shoving it away. With how mad Carolina could get me, I didn't want to break my helmet by hitting her. It was too valuable to replace after all.

"And what is THAT supposed to mean, Carolina?"

My tone was low and dangerous; a dare for her to say what she had to say. Though her helmet was on, I could feel her temper starting to rise to the surface.

"After today's failure against North, do you really think you're ready for the field? You'll drag whatever team you get on down. I'm sure Nevada and Arizona would agree."

I could feel my fists clench in anger, and Wyoming moved a bit closer in an effort to either calm me down or prepare to restrain me. Either one was a pretty solid bet. Surprisingly, York rose against Carolina. It was a known fact that York was like Carolina's protector; the two were quite a team. In fact they were undefeated in team doubles.

"Carolina, isn't that a little harsh? From what I heard, both Nevada and Arizona screwed up big time. Arizona was put as the marksman for her team when he could never shoot a sniper straight, and Nevada was always hardheaded when it came to following orders."

"I have to agree with York on this one, Carolina. Arizona was possibly one of the worst marksmen in the program."

Carolina's gaze had gone to York, and now she sent it to Wyoming as he spoke. I was relieved that I hadn't had to defend myself (especially because in "defending myself" I might have "accidentally" caused her serious harm), and more grateful to my fellow Freelancers for not agreeing outright. Sighing in annoyance, she did something surprising as a reply.

"I apologize, Colorado. Maybe I was a little too harsh."

I could do nothing but stare, dumbfounded at her quick change of attitude. Where had her sudden civility come from? Nevertheless, after speaking she went straight to attention, along with York, CT, and Wyoming. I turned around, and found myself face to face with the Director himself. Shocked, I took the same stance as the other Freelancers and retrieved my helmet from the floor.

"Agents, after today's scheduled training matches I want you all on the bridge, along with Agents Maine, South and North Dakota, and Washington. We have a job to do, and all of you need to be briefed. This is the biggest undertaking Project Freelancer has attempted so far, and I expect no disappointments from any of you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir!"

"Dismissed."

With the conflict forgotten, I found myself growing excited. I was being put on a mission! And with Freelancers who could actually shoot straight! I couldn't wait to share the news with North and South. Bidding the other Freelancers a farewell, I went off in search of North to share the news the Director had given us.

_**Another chapter done :3 I hope it is to everyone's liking! I have many future ideas I can't wait to put into writing; just wait until the real action starts D Please R&R :3 I enjoy reading critiques on both my story-telling and writing.**_


	3. Chapter 3: Mess Hall Mess

_**And so I bring you chapter 3! Halo and RvB belong to their respective creators; Bungie/343, and Rooster Teeth. I do, however, own Colorado, and my other OC mentioned here, Oregon. I know how I want the story to end, the journey to getting there is going to be a spontaneous one ;) and I'll definitely be writing a second part to Colorado's little saga when this one wraps up that will focus more on the other Freelancers. I will say no more than that :D Onto the story!**_

_**Chapter 3**_

I caught up to North in the locker room. He had just finished showering and had nothing on but the bottoms of his under armor, and man did I have a view of his chest. I had always known North to be fit, but to actually see how well sculpted his muscles really were? Let me just say that the showers weren't the only things that were hot in the room. His abs were rock solid, and his arms weren't so big that they looked mutated, but not so small that they seemed flabby. He was, in a word, perfect. Not that I would tell him that. In fact, North would probably just laugh at me if I told him, or worse, shut me down from pursuing a relationship. Although, North already seemed to be doing that. He didn't look up as I walked in, nor did he acknowledge me when I said hello. Puzzled, I laid a hand on his shoulder. His skin was warm to the touch, and I felt him tense up under my touch. My hand recoiled as I felt a wave of electricity rush through me, and I cleared my throat nervously.

"North? What's wrong? I didn't actually hurt you today, did I?"

He sighed and turned to face me. I was expecting a look of amused exasperation, so when I saw the disappointment in his handsome blue eyes my heart dropped into my stomach. What did I do to deserve that kind of reaction?

"Nothing's wrong with me, Colorado. I want to know what's wrong with you. I turned to walk back to the lockers with you and you were storming away like, well, a child. Does the leader board mean that much to you that you'd ditch your friends so easily?"

First my mouth went dry from shock, and then I got annoyed. My reaction was partly because I felt bad (and was embarrassed at the comparison), and partly because he was so quick to judge my actions. We'd known each other for how long now? A year at least? And he immediately accused me of caring more for a board than him.

"Excuse me? What makes you think I was ditching you? I was pissed off- at myself might I add- and wanted a chance to calm down so I didn't say anything stupid and ruin your little victory. I'm so sorry that I was only thinking of keeping you away from my bad mood!"

The last sentence was delivered with biting sarcasm, and my hands were on my hips, with my green eyes sparking my irritation. I wasn't quite angry, but North had definitely struck up a bit of my temper. I was still a bit bitter over my loss, and having him make accusations against me wasn't helping. North himself watched my outburst with a little surprise and then his face went blank with… what? I couldn't tell, but despite my effort to not ruin his victory, I guess in a way, I had.

"Sorry North…"

Not waiting to hear a reply, and in an effort to hide my rapidly rising embarrassment at my outburst, I grabbed a towel and went straight for the women's showers, not bothering to shed my armor and under armor until I was in the safety of my own shower area. Placing my equipment as far away from my chosen shower as I could, I turned on the water and allowed it to cascade down my back. I was sure that no one else was in the locker room, so I began to sing my favorite song to calm myself down.

_I'm so tired of being here…_

_Suppressed by all my childish fears_

_And if you have to leave_

_I wish that you would just leave_

_Your presence still lingers here_

_And it won't leave me alone_

_These wounds won't seem to heal_

_This pain is just too real_

_There's just too much that time cannot erase_

_When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears_

_When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears_

_And I held your hand through all of these years_

_But you still have_

_All of me_

_You used to captivate me by your resonating light_

_Now I'm bound by the life you left behind_

_Your face – it haunts my once pleasant dreams_

_Your voice – it chased away all the sanity in me_

_These wounds won't seem to heal_

_This pain is just too real_

_There's just too much that time cannot erase_

_When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears_

_When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears_

_And I held your hand through all of these years_

_But you still have_

_All of me_

_I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone_

_But though you're still with me_

_I've been alone all along_

_When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears_

_When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears_

_And I held your hand through all of these years_

_But you still have_

_All of me_

Every time I sang that song a little piece of me seemed to break off as I remembered the meaning it had to me. Yet all I could remember was just a single sentence from a man I could not recall, _Don't forget me, Serena._ No matter how hard I tried to recall who had asked me to remember, I just couldn't put a face or name to the voice. Sighing, I tried to focus on how good the water felt instead. The heat and feel of the water seemed like déjà vu from this morning; only now it was around eleven o'clock and nearly time for lunch and the Director's briefing. _Shit!_ I had forgotten to inform North, and I suspected he was already gone. _I'll just get FILSS to fill him in…_

"FILSS?"

"Yes, Agent Colorado?"

"Could you please inform Agent North Dakota about the Director's briefing for our next mission?"

"I will do my best Agent Colorado, but would you not prefer to inform him yourself? He is-"

"Well I would FILSS, but I suspect that he's not very happy with me right now."

"Very well, Agent Colorado. Agent North Dakota?"

I was puzzled as to why she'd broadcast her message to me as well as him, but his answer came quickly, and, alarmingly enough, from right around the corner.

"Don't worry FILSS, I heard the whole thing from Agent Colorado. Thank you though."

"Any time Agent North Dakota."

I shut the shower off and quickly wrapped myself in a towel before jogging around the corner. North had fully donned his armor now minus the helmet, and was staring down at me in an amused fashion. With him being at least five eight in his armor and me standing at an unimpressive five two (damn genetics), I felt like a little kid, and I could feel my face redden as I realized he had probably heard everything, including my not-so-great singing voice.

"So North… how long have you been standing there exactly?"

He chuckled a bit and smiled smugly.

"Long enough for a free concert. When is your next tour?"

I started to crack a small smile, but then I remembered why I had been singing in the first place and felt my face fall. North noticed this as well and moved to my side in an attempt to comfort me.

"Hey, what's wrong, 'Rado?"

I chuckled weakly at the new nickname, but wasn't about to give up my most guarded secret to him. I trusted North with my life, but I didn't want any questions about something I had no answers for.

"It's nothing North, but I thought you were mad at me for what I said earlier."

North's eyes grew troubled; I could tell he didn't believe me saying that my problem was "nothing." However he didn't push the subject matter, contenting himself instead with drawing me into a light hug. Shocked, I went rigid, not expecting the physical contact, particularly with nothing but a towel on. North didn't seem to notice the sudden tension, and certainly not the blush that was slowly creeping it's way onto my cheeks.

"I admit I was a little mad earlier, but then Carolina stopped me in the halls earlier and-"

"Whoa wait wait wait. What made you want to come back here after talking to Carolina?"

"I'm getting to that if you'd shut up for a second." This was said in amusement, "Anyways, Carolina stops me and asks me why I'm in such a bad mood. So I tell her about our little fight, and she tells me that I'm an idiot for assuming that the leader board means more to you than your friends. So she told me to come back here and apologize. Carolina isn't all that bad if you get to know her, Colorado. In fact you two are a lot alike."

I didn't know whether to be flattered or not for North to compare me to Freelancer's number one pupil, but there was sense in what he had said. Maybe it was time to at least attempt to bury the hatchet with Carolina. For all I knew we could make a kick-ass team, assuming we didn't strangle each other first. North's voice broke into my thoughts.

"So what do you say, 'Rado? Friends?"

A small piece of me wanted to ask, 'just friends?' but I refrained from saying that. Instead I kept it simple.

"Friends. Now will you take your arms back so I can get dressed? I don't think the Director would appreciate me showing up to this briefing in nothing but a towel."

"I'm sure some of the other Freelancers wouldn't mind."

I cocked an eyebrow curiously. Was that a note of slight _jealously_ that I detected? More importantly, did he actually think I looked good? I mean all of the women in the program had kick-ass bodies (really, who couldn't with the training we had?), but what made me so special? Nevertheless, I chuckled slightly.

"Whatever you say; we both know that half of the Freelancers here have a crush on Carolina and South. I'll meet you in the cafeteria in a bit."

I waved him off and retrieved all of my gear. My armor was slightly damp from being exposed to the steam, but I used my towel to wipe it off and set it aside. I rapidly combed by shoulder-length brown hair and drew it up brutally into a tight ponytail, letting only a single strand fall out and come to rest next to my cheek. Looking at myself in the mirror, I tried to imagine what North saw when he looked at me. There was nothing particularly special. My stray piece of hair was over one of my green eyes, and my face was a bit pale from lack of sun exposure. All I saw was the lost expression in my eyes; though I could not tell whether it was from my longing of North or from the mystery voice that plagued my thoughts.

Shaking off my contemplative mood, I finished gearing up and tucked my raider helmet under my arm before shutting my locker and heading for the mess hall. Today the cooks were serving teriyaki chicken; one of the few good dishes the _Mother of Invention_ provided. I had had to skip breakfast for my match with North, and my hunger was rearing its disquieted status. Entering the mess hall I saw all of the Freelancers sitting together that the Director wanted to brief later. Carolina and York had their heads close together as they discussed something, and Wash, Maine, and Wyoming were going over Wash's fight with South this morning. CT was at the far end of the table ignoring everyone, and South and North themselves were sitting quietly and observing everyone else.

I took my place across from the Dakota twins and next to Carolina. She glanced up at me briefly, but went back to her conversation with York rather quickly. I smirked at the twins and set my helmet down on the bench.

"South, how did your fight with Wash go?"

She scoffed at me and rolled her eyes.

"Next time the Director offers us a whole table of weapons to choose from, I'm going to tell him to shove them all up his ass."

I laughed, amusement lining my features.

"That bad, huh?"

North could barely hold back a grin.

"Wash got her good with a shotgun. Cemented her right to a pillar at least twice. Final score was four to one."

Ouch, and I thought North had done a number on me. South looked rather downcast about her loss, and I couldn't blame her. If the standings did get updated today after our matches, I had my doubts about her staying number six. Still, I smiled reassuringly.

"You'll get Wash next time, South. Hell, if you get matched against Wyoming next time, and beat him, you'll probably shoot up to number four or five."

Wyoming caught wind of this and chuckled

"I wish you luck with beating me, my dear."

South rolled her eyes and continued eating, so I winked at North and stood up to obtain my own meal. I heard someone fall into step beside me and saw our newest agent, Oregon, move into step with me. His green and gold armor looked recently polished (he was one of the few Freelancers who shined it every day), and his unruly red hair was hanging in his face. Oregon's blue eyes were hidden, but I could imagine that he was about to try and tell me a story of one of his "exploits" from onboard the _Mother of Invention_ from today.

I had never seen Oregon go on a mission, though really, since the Director had so many better agents, and Oregon was number twenty-five, why would you send anyone other than the best? I continued walking, hoping he would veer off, but he came right up to the serving line with me.

"The usual if you please, Ms. Harchek. And maybe an extra serving of chicken if you have enough?"

The kind hearted woman grinned at me.

"Big day so far, Agent Colorado?"

"You have no idea."

Ms. Harchek chuckled and gave me the requested second serving, leaving me to fill my plate with anything else I wanted. I wasn't a fan of veggies, so I loaded up with as many fruits as possible, except for pineapple, which I was allergic too.

"Gee Colorado, here I am walking with you for two minutes and you don't even offer a 'hello!' You wound me, madam!"

I sighed silently, not really wanting to get into a conversation with him, and took my place next to North. Unfortunately, Oregon was never good at taking hints, and he plopped down on my open left side.

"Now Colorado, I have a great story to tell you. So I was talking to Iowa, and she said she heard that Georgia was MIA, instead of KIA. So we go to the Director to ask about Georgia, and-"

Oregon's voice quickly became white noise as I focused all my power into eating. I could tell South was getting annoyed, and North was giving her a wary look. We were both well aware of how her temper could get. Unfortunately for Oregon, he just kept talking.

"So anyways Colorado I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner later? Just the two of us?"

I almost spit out what I was chewing, instead I swallowed what I could while my lungs took some of it in. Choking, I cleared my chest, which of course got the attention of the whole table. North had a dark look on his face (protective? Jealous? I couldn't tell), and South looked a bit shocked, but more amused than anything. She always thought relationships were a waste of time, and hearing that someone was pursuing me was probably one of the most entertaining things today. My tablemates looked just as surprised as I felt, and most of them were looking at me, waiting to see what my response would be. Poor Oregon had absolutely no idea how uninterested I was in him, though he had to be commended for trying. After finally regaining control of my coughing, I formulated a response.

"I'm sorry, Oregon, but I'm just not looking for a relationship right now. The Director's going to be sending me out on a mission soon and I don't need any distractions."

For his part, he actually did seem a bit hurt, but he bowed his head and got up with his lunch tray.

"Ok, just thought I'd try. Sorry for "distracting" you, Colorado."

I was about to throw a biting retort back, but he was already out of my comfortable arguing range. I didn't need to make a scene in the entire cafeteria. Grumbling under my breath, I went back to eating, only to find that the other Freelancers were staring at me still.

"What?"

My tone was slightly demanding, partly because I was in an irritated mood after that smart remark of Oregon's and partially because I had been caught off guard by his date request. It was Wash who broke the silence.

"You don't think calling him a distraction was just a tiny bit harsh?"

I scoffed.

"We're Freelancers, Wash, and I've been called a lot worse. If he's going to get offended by one insignificant word, then he's in the wrong profession. Besides, I'm not interested in him as anything more than a friend."

North looked at me, his blue eyes unreadable.

"Are you interested in anyone?"

It didn't take me long to answer that. I flashed him a saucy smirk.

"Perhaps, but that's for me to know and you to find out."

Carolina and York looked at each other and chuckled slightly, and South smirked in approval. The other Freelancers let it go, and silence engulfed the table. When FILSS spoke over the loudspeaker, at least half of us jumped up in the air at the sudden noise.

"Attention! The Director has requested that the following agents report to the bridge immediately: Agent Carolina, Agent New York, Agent Maine, Agent Washington, Agent Wyoming, Agent North Dakota, Agent South Dakota, Agent Connecticut, and Agent Colorado. Thank you, and have a nice day!"

As one, we all stood up and cleared our trays before heading to the bridge. The familiar fires of determination burned inside of me; it was time to find out how and where the Director wanted me to prove myself.

_**Whew! Nice length for a chapter :3 I promise the plot will pick up more in the next chapter! Until that is put up, please R&R at your leisure! Oh, and you can bet that Oregon will appear more in the future :P**_


	4. Chapter 4: Trade One Enemy for Another

_**Ok, from this moment on, disclaimers can be found in only chapters 1-4 xD RvB and Halo belong to Roosterteeth and Bungie/343, and not to me. Everyone knows this, so on with the story! I hope you all enjoy this chapter :3 Please R&R upon completion!**_

_**Chapter 4**_

I came on the bridge just behind Carolina, who had walked like a speed demon through the halls. When Carolina was on a course, personnel knew to move the hell out of the way, or they'd most likely get bowled over by a hulking Freelancer, and then they'd probably get a lecture from Carolina about how they made her late by being in her way. The thought was rather amusing, and I smirked as I walked into my position. My helmet I placed on my head to appear more professional. The other Freelancers followed in after us one by one, but I took the opportunity to make a quick request to Carolina.

"Hey… I heard about what you said to North, and I wanted to say thanks. You saved us a lot of trouble. You want to maybe talk after the mission? Maybe bury the hatchet?"

She turned to look at me, though I could not read her expression through her helmet. However, she suddenly struck out a hand.

"Consider it done, Colorado. Tensions only hurt the team."

I took her hand and shook it firmly, before standing at attention. She mirrored me, and soon enough all the requested Freelancers were in the room. The Director had his hands behind his back, staring out into space. The Counselor was beside him, fiddling around with a data pad as usual. I never understood the Counselor's role on the _Mother of Invention_. He seemed more like a secretary than anything, what with the way the Director ordered him around and everything. Regardless, at the Director's nod, he closed the viewpoint of space from the bridge, and projected a hologram into the center of the room. A base was built into the side of an overgrown canyon, with what looked like a small storage facility on the other side of the canyon. Several alcoves were marked with both vehicle storage and sniper positions. Whatever this facility housed, it must have been important to have so many troops stationed there. There were at least fifty, and several of them looked to be assigned to the big honking Scorpion tank that was labeled.

"The Insurrectionists here are holding valuable information for Project Freelancer in this building," he pointed to the smaller one in the more wide-open part of the canyon, "and we are very interested in knowing why they chose this particular location to guard the information. Agents, there are two targets that need to be acquired, and we will need three teams to do it."

Ah, capturing information and a VIP. A typical mission for us Freelancers, but the Director seemed to find this important.

"Your VIP target is Captain Gwen Forest. She is the highest-ranking Innie officer currently present in the base. She is to be brought back to the _Mother of Invention_ alive and able to be interrogated. Your teams are as follows: Agent Carolina will be the leader of Team A, and accompanying her will be Agents York and Colorado. Team A, your job will be to acquire our VIP target through any means necessary. The VIP is the priority here. If we cannot get the information from the bunker, then we can hopefully get it out of our VIP. Team B will consist of Agents North and South Dakota, and Agent Connecticut. Team B, you will follow Agent North Dakota's orders. Your goal will be to obtain the information stored in the bunker. Both of these objectives will be heavily guarded, which is why Team C will provide a distraction. Agent Wyoming will be in charge of Team C, and he will have Agents Washington and Maine help him run interference for Teams A and B. How you and your team cause a distraction is up to you, Wyoming."

"Security won't know what hit them, Director sir."

"I'm glad to hear it. Agents this is an important mission. Failure is not an option. You have until nightfall on the planet to get geared up with whatever you want. Report to hanger four at 0800 hours tonight for deployment. Dismissed."

At this, we all left the bridge and headed straight for the armory. I found myself in step with Wash.

"Be sure to stay safe during that distraction of yours. We don't need to lose anyone else to those damned Innies."

"Don't worry, Colorado. You'll find that everyone in the top of the leader board knows how to work together and follow orders. No one is going to be Nevada or Arizona here."

I muttered an affirmative and left his side upon reaching the armory. On one of the racks were a bunch of SMGs, and I took two of tem and strapped them to my thighs, making sure to carry six extra clips in case I needed them. I wasn't a fan of precision weapons, but I magnetized a Battle Rifle to my back in case things got messy and loaded up with four extra clips for it. Carolina was content with taking a pistol and a couple of grenades, while York also took a Battle Rifle and a pistol in case he ran out of ammo. None of us carried lockdown paint like we would with simulation troopers. The Innies were tougher, smarter, and deadlier than a bunch of brain dead simulation troopers. If they got a chance to take one of us down, they would seize the opportunity. On a whim, I grabbed a biofoam canister and tucked that into the pouch on my thigh where my ammo was. If I had had the proper equipment, maybe Nevada would have lived through the last mission she had been on. A hand fell on my shoulder, and I looked to see North standing behind me.

"Thinking of your team?"

"Who knows North? If I had carried biofoam, with me, maybe at least Arizona would be alive. I'm not going to make the same mistake twice. And North… you and South be careful. You guys are my closest friends. If you don't come back… well, all Hell will break loose if you don't."

North and South are good. I've seen them in action, and I've heard stories of their fantastic teamwork during missions. When you have the strength and agility to surpass most any soldier, you can't help but feel invincible, and that's what leads to down falls. I saw South and North as invincible, but when you lose a team, your perception about being invincible starts to change. You can't help but feel worried for your friends, knowing that even the most careful and skilled soldier can be brought down by one bullet.

"I could say the same for you, Colorado. Stay safe out there. Carolina is a good team leader; she knows what she's doing. Just follow her orders to the letter and don't try to play the hero. If everything goes as planned, I bet we'll see your name creep up the board."

At this, I smiled hungrily. He was right; this mission could make or break my standings on the board. As it had turned out, Oregon had been right about Georgia. He had been number nine on the board, but that place had gone to me in Georgia's absence. I hadn't felt much accomplishment from the raise in status since it had been given to me by default, but a place was a place, and I was glad to fill in Georgia's shoes.

"Hey, Colorado!"

I turned to see Carolina beckoning me. I gave North a couple of pats on the shoulder and strode over to Carolina. York was also moving to join us.

"Ok Team A, we have six hours until we go planet-side. We're going to go to the firing range and get our weapons in order, and then use the training room for some hand-to-hand exercises. I want to make as little noise as possible when we make our move on the VIP so that Wyoming and his team take the full brunt of Innie forces. Do not discharge your weapons unless the situation calls for it. Any questions?"

North had been right about Carolina's leadership skills, she knew how to take charge and get things done. I had only one question.

"What's the plan for subduing and bagging the VIP?"

Carolina turned her gaze to me.

"As we don't know what kind of security she will have around or on her, we'll formulate the plan to obtain the VIP once we have more information on the ground."

At this I nodded, and our little team moved out of the armory. For the next few hours, all we did was train ourselves as a warm up. Shooting targets became boring rapidly, but we stayed there until our sites were as precise as possible. Hand-to-hand combat was interesting. No matter how much York and I strategized, Carolina managed to come out on top most of the time, losing only when York and I combined efforts to try and leg sweep her, leaving her off-balance in the air. Beyond that, there was a reason she had earned her place as number one. The work out had been tough, but I felt confident that I would perform well in the mission. We had only trained both in the range and the training floor for a total of four hours, which meant that we still had two hours until drop off. I never ate before missions (food made me feel cumbersome) and opted instead to wait in the hanger and clean my helmet. Looking into the visor, I could only wonder as to what my enemies thought when they saw me. I had requested a special addition for my helmet; two demon-like horns on top, both of them matched my primary cobalt blue color, but the tips of both were emblazed in a golden color. I almost hoped for my name to get around the Innie organization. They'd call me the Blue Demon, and spread rumors about how I could shoot from a shadow one minute, only to shoot from behind in the next second. They would come to fear any Freelancer that dropped on the field, and they'd fear the top ten agents. We were all harbingers of death (although with our personalities, you really wouldn't guess we could kill so many people); our enemies just didn't know it yet.

It took only fifteen minutes to shine my helmet to brilliance, and by then I was feeling like a caged animal. I wanted to feel my boots hitting the dirt. I wanted to feel the recoil of my gun as I pushed back the Innies. And most of all, I wanted to hear the sounds of a job well done; the blinking of the leader board, and a pat on the back. Eventually, the other teams began trickling in. South and North arrived together, talking with their Pelican pilot about the approach to the objective. CT came in leaned back against a wall, quietly observing everything. Wash and Maine were sparring in front of their pelican, much to the dismay of Wyoming, who was trying to get them to calm down before they broke something. A loud crash five minutes later indicated Wyoming had failed to persuade the two Freelancers, though the only true loser in that fight was the ammo crate they had broken. Carolina arrived mere minutes later accompanying our own Pelican pilot, whom was listening as Carolina explained the kind of approach she wanted. The clock continued ticking down, and surprisingly, Carolina came to join me on the bench.

"Nervous yet, Colorado?"

From all the interactions we had had over the years, I was expecting contempt in her question, but found that there was only a wry tone; one that suggested she understood what I was thinking.

"Hard not to be. I haven't been on a mission since the one with my old team. I know I'll be focused once we hit the dirt though. Nothing else matters but the mission; not even what I feel personally. One slip up or one wrong move and I could jeopardize the entire operation for all the teams. It isn't a wonder why the Director chose the best of us to go. Once we get down there, I'm going to give him a good reason to move me up that board."

"Just be sure to follow orders, Colorado. I'm not going to have you endanger York or myself because you think you know best."

"I understand, Carolina. I'm not going to embody Nevada."

She nodded and walked off, leaving me to return my helmet to my head. Only fifteen minutes later, the call came to mount up and head out. The ride down to the planet was going to take forty-five minutes, and in that time we were supposed to make any final preparations and go over basic orders. Since Carolina had already gone through all of that back in the armory, the ride down to the planet was quiet for us. York and Carolina idly talked about the matches from this morning, and I couldn't help but feel like a third wheel. The Director knew I was at my best around North and South; why he had put me with York and Carolina was a mystery I hadn't thought to think about. Nevertheless, I'd show my quality as a Freelancer today. The Director would HAVE to pay attention to me then.

"Attention passengers, this is your pilot speaking. Please strap in your seat belts and put your refreshment tables in the upright position; we will be experiencing minor turbulence upon entering the planet's atmosphere. Thank you for flying _Air Invention_."

I rolled my eyes and strapped down the safety belt, just in time to feel the familiar force of entering a planet's atmosphere. The planet was called Verde Grande, which sounded really impressive and exotic, but really only meant "Big Green" when translated from Spanish to English. Our destination was the forested region of the planet, codenamed "Exile" for it's remote location. We were to land two clicks from the facility and hoof it on foot. From there, we were on our own. As we got closer, I looked out the tiny window of the Pelican's rear door and scanned our environment. Densely woven trees and rocky cliffs dotted the landscape; in fact it could be compared to Earth's Grand Canyon, though I had never seen it with my own eyes. Finally, the pilot announced that we were landing, and I took my seat again. The plan was for all the teams to travel in a group, and then veer off when we were about a click away from the objectives. This gave us a chance to make any last minute preparations with other teams and to discuss our exit strategy. We landed without issues, and York, Carolina, and myself exited our Pelican to meet up with the other teams. South had never been one for flying, and I could see her teeter off of the ship and bend her upper body over her knees to shake away any flying nausea. Carolina was the one who called us all together.

"Ok teams, we all heard the Director. We have two objectives to grab, and not much time to do it. Team A is comprised of myself, Colorado, and York. We are to capture the VIP and bring her in for questioning. Team B has North as team leader, with South and CT. You three are to grab the intelligence the Director requested. Team C, Wyoming is the one giving you orders. Maine and Wash, follow him to the letter. We need you guys to create a distraction so they're caught unprepared for Teams A and B. When you have accomplished your objectives, meet back here for extraction. Any questions?"

No one spoke up; we all knew what we had to do, and each of us had an idea of how to do our jobs. In the end though, we would follow the orders of North, Wyoming, and Carolina. Speaking of Carolina, the teal Freelancer nodded and brought her pistol forward, motioning for everyone to follow. About half a click from where we were supposed to split off, she ordered that the three teams separate just a little bit to get rid of any scouts that might be lurking out there. Only Team C ran into one, and he was quickly silenced by Maine's ridiculous strength. Soon enough we were within the distance where Carolina wanted all of us to split off entirely. It was official: our mission had begun.

Creeping through the forest quietly proved to be difficult, and the closer we got to the facility, the more patrols we saw. The Director's estimates of fifty men didn't seem to be close; heat scans detected 3 patrols of five men just in our relative area, and that probably rang true for the other teams as well. Carolina didn't seem troubled by the misinformation, but York looked back at me, and I could almost see the wary look he seemed to be shooting me. If there were more men than anticipated, what did that mean for security on our objectives and the equipment the Innies had for us? Our question was answered when we found a break in the tree and found ourselves looking down upon the canyon.

Two Scorpion tanks were driving around in slow circles, obviously patrolling for trouble. Both bases where our objectives were being kept had mounted machine guns on top, and though we couldn't see them, we knew there were snipers dotted throughout the canyon. Carolina didn't say a word, and instead focused all her energy on studying the layout and the troop movements. An inkling of suspicion ran through me.

"Do you think they know we're coming? The information we're after is either really damn important, or somebody ratted us out."

Carolina didn't answer, but York seemed to be open to speculations.

"No one knew about the location except for all of us who were briefed, and the Director himself. No one would want to put us in greater danger or risk the VIP and intelligence disappearing on us. I think our intel was just bad for this mission."

Looking around at all the troops, I could only hope that he was right. If they knew to look out for us, we'd be in some serious trouble. The distraction team was going to have a hell of a big job ahead of them, particularly with those tanks. Wyoming was going to have to get creative, particularly with where he was going to distract them. If he picked the wrong place, both tanks would easily wipe him, Maine, and Wash out. Carolina had followed my gaze to the tanks.

"We'll see if we can deal with at least one of those tanks for Team C. Both tanks make a pass in front of the base where our VIP is. Our best bet is to take the tank down right when it gets there, and right before Team C makes their distraction. First we need to climb down."

Looking over the walls, it seemed like the best place would be to drop right on top of our VIP's base. It had lots of cover and several hand holds for the climb. I nudged Carolina and nodded to the trees.

"Hm. Seems promising, Colorado. I'll radio Team C and tell them to wait for our signal to begin the distraction."

I could only imagine what signal she meant, but I didn't question her. Instead, we stealthily made our way over to where I had pointed the trees out. Below, I could see a solitary figure slowly sweeping the scope of his rifle from side to side. _Sniper number one_. We'd climb down and surprise him, that's for sure. As it turned out though, Carolina had other ideas. Instead of climbing down all the way, she waited until she was about twenty feet above him, and dropped. The poor Innie below her didn't have time to react as at least two hundreds pounds of woman and equipment crashed down on his back. Taking his sniper, Carolina lined up her sights on the tank and fired.

I had never seen such a beautiful shot.

Somehow she had managed to hit the gas tank, and the Scorpion went up in a ball of fire. As if on cue, the familiar cracks of Wyoming's sniper rifle began to go off, and we saw an entire patrol drop before they could fire off a shot. Additional forces began moving towards their position, leaving the doors wide open for my team and North's team to begin their searches. Hastily, we climbed down the side of the building and ran inside. The facility was in a state of organized chaos. Peaking around the corner, Carolina signed to us that there were at least fifteen enemies inside, including who she thought was the captain, as she was the only female barking orders to everyone. Drawing my Battle Rifle, I waited tensely for Carolina's signal to jump in. When the signal finally did come, I saw her leap around the corner and pop six guys in the head within seconds. York and I took turns taking down targets with our rifles, and soon the entire room was secure. Throughout this the captain had tried firing at us, but her aim was either poorer than Arizona's had been, or we were just too good for her. Nevertheless, when we finally turned our sights on her, her hands went up and she dropped her pistol. Carolina walked up to her, pistol down, as she knew York and I were covering her back.

"Captain Gwen Forest I assume?"

The Innie officer scowled, clearly not liking that we knew who she was, but she nodded in affirmation anyway. Carolina tapped her radio to call the _Mother of Invention_.

"This is Agent Carolina, the VIP has been secured; moving back to the extraction point now. York, search her for any more weapons while I get Team B on the line to see if they've accomplished their objective. Colorado, keep watch."

I nodded and stacked up near the door (well, more like tunnel) we had entered through, and listened for anyone trying to come up. The direction of my next target, however, surprisingly came from behind me. I heard a grunt of pain from York and turned around in time to see him hit the floor. The captain sprinted over desks and swept past me in my brief moment of surprise. However it didn't last long, and I growled in anger; why didn't York think to restrain her?! I sprinted off down the ramp and caught up to her by a huge boulder on the ground. I ran off the side of it and leapt for her, tackling her to the ground and grabbing her arms.

"Listen bitch, you can either come back with us the easy way, or the hard way, it's your choice!"

The captain laughed as I dragged her to her feet and began pushing her up the stairs. I thought that Team C had drawn the attention of all the troops, and made the mistake of exposing my back. The familiar crack of a rifle sound, and a white hot pain ripped through my abdomen as Carolina took the captain from me. The force of the shot sent me sprawling to the ground, and I cried out in agony.

"York! Get Colorado out of there! Now!"

Carolina's order was loud and urgent, and York leapt over the desks towards where I was. Another crack went off, and another round of pain lanced through me, this time focused on my right leg. However by the time I heard a third rifle shot, York had brought me fully into the room and laid me across the desk. I had never been shot before, and it was the most painful thing I had had to endure yet. All I wanted to do was fall into unconsciousness so I didn't have to feel it, but I couldn't let the team down.

"Colorado! Stay with me, we're going to get you out of here! York, did you bring biofoam?"

_Biofoam?_ I remembered the can I had brought with me for just such an occasion as this.

"Carolina… The pouch on my thigh… there's a can of biofoam in there."

I tried to wiggle my leg, but let out another scream as I jostled the wound around.

"York, take care of her, I'm going to take care of the captain."

I was starting to feel sleepy and laid my head back, but there was no denying the dangerous tone Carolina had taken on: the captain was going to be sorry for running. I heard the sound of a gun impacting on something hard , and then listened as what sounded like a body hit the floor. However I quickly forgot about that as York pushed the tip of the biofoam canister into my abdomen and filled it with the white foam. I groaned in pain, but was happy to have made the right decision to bring the medical tool. York went to apply biofoam to my leg as well, but ran out before he could finish.

"Shit. Carolina, we need bandages or something to seal this wound!"

"We don't have bandages, York! Agent Carolina to Teams B and C, we are in possession of the VIP and have wounded. What is the status of your objectives?"

I looked at one of the bodies on the floor; the soldiers were bound to have some equipment on them.

"York… see if one of these guys was a medic."

York nodded and went off to search the dead soldiers, so I took the opportunity to close my eyes for a little while. I had never felt so tired before, and we were safe for the moment. However I had barely closed my eyes when I felt my hand being shaken and Carolina's voice broke through the haze.

"Hey, no sleeping, Colorado. I know you're hurt, but we can't carry you and the captain up the side of the cliff."

"Then leave me… the mission is more important… I just want to sleep."

At this, Carolina only shook harder.

"Damn it, Colorado! You're going to stay awake whether you like it or not, and I am not leaving you behind! York! Where are those bandages?!"

Despite the situation, I couldn't help but chuckle, much to the dismay of my recently sealed wound.

"Didn't know… you cared so much, Carolina."

York had come over with bandages and busied himself with wrapping up my hit leg.

"Ok, this should hold and stem the bleeding until we get back to the _Mother of Invention_. How are we going to get Colorado up the cliff face?"

Carolina hesitated before answering, and her tone was tight as she replied, "She's going to have to climb it herself. I'll carry the captain up by myself, and Colorado will follow me. In case she falls, I want you beneath her, York."

With this plan, Carolina made for the door. York offered me his shoulder, which I gratefully took, and together we limped outside. The sniper seemed to be gone judging by the lack of shooting, so we climbed back up to the top of the building. Each movement was like agony as the pain flared up each time I stretched my body out to reach another hand hold. The climb seemed to take forever, but finally we made it up to the top of the building. Looking up the cliff wall, however. I felt my heart sink. The climb up here had been taxing enough; how in the hell was I going to climb this?! However it was too late to turn back. Carolina started her way up, and I went right after. York offered silent support, patiently waiting for me to find my grip and haul myself up. About three quarters of the way up, I felt my strength wane and I almost fell, but I slammed my arm into the rock for an extra hold and hung there for a second to catch my breath.

"Colorado, are you ok?"

I looked down at York wearily.

"I'm fine York, just really tired."

With a sigh, I began climbing my way up the cliff wall again, and felt Carolina's hand grab my arm as I crested the top. It was here that I finally felt my eyes close as I scrambled away from the edge, and let myself sink into a blissful state of unconsciousness.

_**Whoa snap, that was intense o_o One can only wonder how North is going to react to seeing Colorado in this state :P As usual, I hope you enjoyed. Please R&R at your leisure!**_


	5. Chapter 5: Breaking Bonds

_**Chapter 5 has landed! Here we will find out something quite tasty, readers… I think you'll enjoy the little mystery I have decided to add in here. Also, a shout-out to TheDeadAngel :3 I'm so glad that you are enjoying the story, and find my portraying of Carolina to be at least acceptable, haha xD she is a complicated character to write! On with the story!**_

_**Chapter 5**_

The sound of voices woke me up. I breathed in a gulp of oxygen and opened my eyes to see white sheets and beeping monitors. My armor was no longer present, and had been replaced by standard Freelancer loungewear; a t-shirt and gray sweat pants. Lifting an arm to my face I noticed an IV tube had been inserted to keep me hydrated. I tried to sit up, but felt the pain from my abdomen and laid back down. When you get shot and pass out, people usually forget about it in movies until they wake up. However I could remember right away why I was in so much pain. I could tell my right thigh had been bandaged with fresh gauze, and gently feeling my abdomen I could feel the gauze there too. Groaning, I tried to remember anything after I had finished climbing the cliff. Nothing came to me except the feeling of being shuffled and moved around too many times to count. Had we succeeded in our mission? I know that Carolina had gotten the captain up the cliff, but what about Team B's objective? Were North and South ok? It seemed I was in luck, for my questions were about to be answered. My door opened, and in walked the Director himself with the Counselor right on his heels.

"Agent Colorado. I am glad to see that you are awake and on the way to recovery."

"Thank you sir, I promise I'll be back in action soon. Was the mission a success, sir?"

The Director clasped his hands behind his back.

"You will be pleased to know that all teams completed their objectives, Colorado. The only injury reported was yours, and I'm led to believe that you were willing to stay behind if it meant the mission could be completed. That is a commendable attitude. You have been out for an entire day, so I believe you will be pleased to see the latest standings."

He nodded to the Counselor, who showed me his data pad. There, in the seventh slot, was my name. Behind me was Connecticut and Washington. Carolina was still number one, but Wyoming had been bumped up to number three, York was still number two, North was number four, South was number five, and Maine was number six. Pride went through me, and I couldn't hide the hunger in my eyes as I gazed at the main part of the board.

"Thank you, sir. If I may ask, what brought me enough credit to be moved up to seventh place?"

"Colorado, Agent Carolina informed me that you not only came prepared for the event of injuries, but you also contributed to the mission regarding an entry and an escape route. Add the fact that you offered to stay behind in case you became a liability, and we have determined that you deserved to move up in the ranks. We will need you back in shape soon."

"Thank you, sir."

He nodded and left, leaving me feeling giddy with excitement, if a bit tired. Content, I laid my head back down on the pillow and tried to take a nap. Soon I was in the peaceful throes of sleep, and dreaming.

_I was back in Exile, standing on a center platform overlooking where the VIP had been, and where Team B had had to retrieve the information. Everywhere was a thick fog, but out of it I could see bullets piercing the soupy air, going in both directions. I couldn't tell who was shooting, but for some reason I got the impression that it was Freelancers shooting each other. In the center of the canyon, something appeared. Upon closer examination, I could see the familiar flag that the simulation troopers used, but instead of it being red or blue, the whole flag was the leader board. To my horror, as the figures materialized I could see that they WERE Freelancers. Carolina, York, North, South… everyone that I had met throughout the project was fighting each other. The lower ranked agents were the first to go; drowned by the sheer amount of fighting. Shock seized me, and I leapt down from the platform to try and stop the fighting._

_** "Stop this! We're all on the same side!"**_

_My words did nothing to quell the fighting, and I again heard the crack of a rifle. The same intense pain I felt the other day shot through me, and looking at where the shot had come from, I saw Oregon looking down on me with a smirk on his face._

I woke up in fear, and looked around wildly. The med-bay was still the same, and, catching sight of the clock, I realized that only two hours had passed.

"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty."

The voice caught me off guard and I jumped slightly, still tense from my nightmare. However I calmed down immediately once I saw that it was just North. He was frowning at me with concern upon seeing my reaction.

"Hey, what's wrong, 'Rado? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"It's nothing, North. Just a bad dream."

I repositioned myself and winced as I worked my damaged abdomen. North watched me with concern, his steady gaze never leaving my own. As I got comfortable, North began our conversation.

"We were really worried about you, 'Rado. When Carolina radioed us about having wounded, I was hoping that you were ok, but then she told us that she needed my team to divert to her position to assist. When I saw the state you were in… Well, let's just say South and I have a new plan to find and kill the bastard that did this to you. The wound on your leg was the worst one, believe it or not. Climbing back up the cliff tore your muscles more when they were already injured. The docs think you'll be able to take up light duties in a week. They also mentioned how poorly placed the shots were; they expected you to have been shot through your upper body instead of your torso if they were trying to kill you."

I ignored the mention of the lack of skill regarding the sniper (Innies didn't usually have the strict training the UNSC snipers did), and analyzed my prognosis instead. Down for a week, and even then only light duties?! Unacceptable. Frowning, I pulled the IV out of my arm and tried to sit up. Almost immediately, North had forced me back down. I glared at him and tried to push him off.

"Let me go, North! No way am I staying here for a week with nothing to do; I'll go nuts! At least let me walk around the ship! I swear I'm not going to try to fight Maine or anything crazy like that. I have to prove that I'm not going to let this pull me down."

He looked down at me sternly, but with a hint of sympathy.

"Sorry, 'Rado, I can't let you leave. If you manage to make your injuries worse, you'll be out for even longer than now. If you want, I can bring some of the other Freelancers in here now that you're awake."

I shook my head stubbornly.

"Nope, I can go and see them myself. Just get me some crutches at least and I'll be good to go."

"I'll tell you what; if you use a wheelchair, I'll let you up and we can go and see the others. Deal?"

From the look on North's face, it was clear that I wasn't going to get a better deal than the wheelchair. Crossing my arms (well, as much as one could with North holding them down) I glared at him.

"Fine, but bring the crutches in case I get tired of wheeling myself around."

North released his iron grip and let me sit up finally. I rolled my shoulders and threw the covers away, fully intending to at least walk over to get a wheelchair. North, however, did not intend for me to actually move anywhere, as he left the room and met me halfway across the room with a wheelchair. Sitting down, I realized how uncomfortable these things could be. Any agent used to being active would loathe to be sitting in one of these things without a doubt. North went to push me around, but I shooed him away.

"If I can't work out my legs, the least I could do is work my arms so they don't get soft."

"Whatever you say, 'Rado. I was just trying to help."

This made me sigh and run a hand through my hair.

"I know North, but I promise I don't need you waiting on me hand and foot. I'm just as capable as anyone else here, shot or not."

North looked like he seriously doubted that last part, but didn't say a word. Instead, he kept pace with me as I got used to wheeling myself around. The doctors were probably going to be furious at me for leaving without permission or clearance, but I didn't care. Truthfully, I was just glad to be out of the med-bay. Roaming the halls now we ran into several other Freelancers, most notably South, who actually _hugged_ me (South? Hugging? She MUST have been worried about me).

"Try not to get shot again, Colorado. I almost ground my teeth to dust thinking of the asshole that got you. You're ok though?"

"No worries, South. Apparently North said the doctors are going to let me go into light duties next week."

"More like a couple days if I know you."

We laughed at this and I nudged North's thigh.

"Not if North here pins me to the bed again. It took a lot of haggling to get him to let me out of bed."

"Pinning you to the bed? Why doesn't that surprise me? I've got to get ready for the de-briefing the Director wants to do, so I'll see both of you there."

North and I said goodbye to his sister and continued towards the training room. By now we had been wheeling around for at least fifteen minutes, and admittedly, my arms were beginning to get sore. No way in Hell would I admit that to North though, so I bit back any complaints and went to the observation deck of the training room. Inside I saw the people who usually hung out up here; Carolina, York, and Wyoming. Looking down, it appeared that Maine and Wash were sparring today. At the sound of the door sliding open, the occupants of the room turned to look us over. Surprisingly, all three of them left their spots to come over to North and myself, and Wyoming was the first to speak.

"Up and about already I see. You gave North quite the scare, Colorado. He didn't leave your side throughout the entire Pelican ride back."

This was a new detail to me, and I looked up at him, surprised to see a slight blush creeping on his cheeks.

"Really? Well thank you, North. I'm surprised they didn't force you to stay with your team."

"Well about that… I'm not exactly big on following orders when one of my friends needs me."

I chuckled and looked over to York and Carolina questioningly.

"What happened after we got up the cliff? All I remember is passing out. Were you guys stopped by any more Innies?"

"You mean besides the fact that you were bleeding all over me?"

I shot York an annoyed look.

"Gee, my apologies for not being able to control my blood after being shot."

"Whoa hey, take it easy; I was just joking."

"I don't find bleeding to death funny."

My scowl could usually put most people off, but not York. For whatever reason it just amused him.

"Ok I'm sorry, I won't tell anymore blood jokes. At least not for a few weeks."

I sighed in both amusement and exasperation.

"Gee, thanks, York. Anyways, Carolina, fill me in."

The redheaded Freelancer leaned against a wall.

"Well, after you passed out and York got up the cliff, he grabbed you and we took cover in the forest. I had to radio in Team B for an escort because York and I were both carrying someone and weren't as effective of a fighting force. Not that it mattered considering South and North were too busy worrying over you to actually help CT watch our backs. Like Wyoming said, North wouldn't leave your side when we strapped you into the Pelican. The second we got back to the _Mother of Invention_ the medics took you away for emergency surgery. That's about it."

She shrugged and watched as I processed the information. It sounded like our escape went off without a hitch. However the amount of Innies there was still suspicious to me, and I couldn't shake the feeling that our whole operation had been compromised. I narrowed my eyes in thought.

"I heard the Director wants to debrief us today. I want to know why he Innie forces there numbered more than our intelligence reported. Most of all, I want to know who the bastard was that shot me."

The last part held a dark promise in my voice. Whoever had pulled that trigger was going to be sorry one way or another. It was in an awkward silence that FILSS called us up.

"Hello agents, the Director has requested that all of you report to the bridge for a debriefing. Agent Colorado, he has requested that you attend as well and then go back to the medical bay to rest up."

Carolina nodded.

"Thank you FILSS, we'll be there shortly."

Carolina motioned us all out, and in one group we headed towards the bridge. On the way we passed Oregon. I nodded a greeting to him, but he seemed too distracted to notice as he headed towards the hangers. He must have finally gotten put on a mission; nothing makes Oregon twitchier than being assigned to a mission. Shrugging off his strange tendencies, I wheeled my way along with the group. Maine and Wash had joined us after having their training session interrupted, and were chatting about a rematch after our debriefing. Upon arriving at the bridge, we all took our positions. The Director turned around.

"Agents, we have a… situation on our hands. Something not fit to discuss here. He motioned to the Counselor, and us, and we all followed him to an adjoining room.

"This room is for discussing the most sensitive of information. Take a seat, Agents."

North kindly removed the chair next to him and motioned for me to wheel in, which I did, nodding gratefully. Once we were all assembled, the room darkened and a hologram appeared in the middle of the table. It was a standard bullet from a sniper, and nothing remotely interesting.

"Agents, this is one of the bullets that Colorado got well-acquainted with."

Ok, so maybe there WAS something interesting about it. I resisted the urge to lean forward for a closer look, lest I do something to my injuries.

"After running a check to see which sniper this belonged too, we found that it was assigned to a sniper from onboard the _Mother of Invention_. Either someone left a rifle laying around for our enemies to take, or we have a traitor on this ship. What leads me to believe that we have someone defecting is that our estimates of enemy forces were minimal compared to actual present personnel and equipment. You are all being informed of this because you are free from any involvement regarding leaked information and attempted murder on Agent Colorado. Any questions?"

I clasped my hands and looked around to make sure no one else had anything to say before I did. When everyone stayed silent in their contemplation, I decided to ask my own questions.

"Do we know whose rifle the bullet belonged to, sir?"

The Director looked at me, and I could only imagine the look of desire that was present on my face. There was no way to mistake the lust for revenge that defined my features.

"That is the troubling part, Colorado. The bullet was a match to Agent Arizona's rifle, and he was confirmed dead after your unfortunate assignment. We do not believe that your injuries and the warning our enemies had are connected. Most likely an insurrectionist picked up his rifle before we could secure it."

I nodded; disappointed that it was just an unlucky coincidence that landed Arizona's rifle in enemy hands. Another thought occurred to me.

"Sir? Did our VIP provide any useful information?"

"Captain Forest has proven to be remarkably loyal to her commanding officers. The most she has made obvious is how she knows more about Project Freelancer than I am comfortable with. We may employ more aggressive means in the future in order to get her to talk to us. In the mean time, we have another target to obtain. The information that Team B retrieved has pinpointed the location of several stashes of UNSC equipment that our enemies have stolen. In all, there are five stashes that I want retrieved for Project Freelancer. Counselor, please bring up the assigned teams for the mission."

The Hologram became a vertical list of names. Carolina was with CT on Team 1, York and Wyoming were Team 2, North and South were Team 3, and Maine and Wash were Team 4. I looked at the board curiously.

"Sir, if there are five objectives, why are there only four teams?"

"The final objective is not just a stash, Agent Colorado. There is also a high-ranking Insurrectionist officer here that needs to be eliminated. All four teams will regroup upon obtaining the four previous objectives."

I nodded and stood up, wincing as I pulled the muscles in my abs.

"What do you want me to do, Director? I refuse to sit out and wait; I want to help out. Put me on recon for the final objective, and give me a sniper rifle to cover the team with. I can do this!"

North looked at me sternly, obviously not happy with my offer to go out in the field so soon after landing in the medical bay. The other Freelancers just looked at each other doubtfully. The Director himself looked mildly skeptical.

"I understand that you are not due to be discharged from the medical bay for another two days, Colorado. What makes you so sure that you're fit for duty?"

I leaned over the table, grinning confidently.

"If you think just two bullets are going to keep me from doing my part in this mission, you are mistaken. If I have to hijack a Pelican myself and fly down to the objective I will. If I have to grab an escape pod to get down there, I will. Stop me from going on this mission, Director, and I will still work myself to the breaking point in the training room. If I'm going to risk myself, wouldn't you rather I do it in a productive manner?"

I smirked and put all my weight on my left leg, since it was uninjured. My fellow Freelancers looked a little taken aback from my mini speech, and North just looked disapproving. I'd like to see him pin me to the hospital bed while he was gone though. The Director himself was looking at the wall, hands fiddling with his chin as he thought. Finally he turned around.

"Very well, Colorado. You may serve as recon and over watch for target number five. You'll be in direct contact with the _Mother of Invention_ as you scout out enemy forces. Relay all information you can back to us so that we may inform teams one through four of all necessary information. I suggest you take Agent Wyoming with you and warm up with your sniper. I want your aim to be ready to kill if the situation calls for it."

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been.

"Thank you, sir! I'll gear up and be ready to hit the dirt within two hours. Wyoming?"

"I'll be right with you, Colorado."

"Alright, I'll meet you in the firing range."

Ignoring the wheelchair, I began to limp out of the room to prove that I could walk. With every step a jolt of agony lanced its way through me, but I ignored it as best as I could and headed to the armory. All Freelancers were assigned their own weapons to track who shot who. It was particularly useful if any Freelancer went rogue and tried to take down one of their comrades. My rifle I had hand-painted; it was green and brown to help camouflage my rifle in vegetation. I had barely picked up my sniper, and headed down to the training room. Surprisingly, Wyoming showed up around ten minutes later with North as I was adjusting my scope. I slammed in a fresh clip, but before I could start shooting, North angrily spoke up.

"Colorado, what do you think you're trying to prove? You're going to get yourself killed out there! I know your injuries are hurting you. I can tell from the way you're standing and how you're holding the rifle. You've barely started to heal! Go back to the Director and back out before something bad happens."

I could tell he was serious when he didn't call me "'Rado," but I refused to just back out when I basically told the Director that I could take on the world.

"No way, North. I am not being left behind and letting some random Innie sniper throw me out of commission for who knows how long. I can handle whatever pains my wounds dish out. Why don't you trust me on this? You know I can handle my own."

"Damn it, Colorado! I know you can handle yourself, but you have no idea what it was like to see you bleeding on that Pelican! You're one of my best friends, Colorado. If you died without me at least being there to try and protect you… I'd blame myself for the rest of my life."

I could only stare wide-eyed and shocked. Silence enveloped the room, until I practically whispered a reply.

"Why do you want to protect me so badly, North?"

"I want to protect you because you're one of my closest friends, and you remind me of South. Striving so hard to get to the top that you make rash decisions that put you in danger."

So that was it. I was just a friend, and one that reminded me of his sister at that. A little piece of my heart seemed to break, but I didn't show my sadness, only my fiery temper.

"So, what? You think I'm some sort of rookie that can't handle the consequences of her actions? I've trained with the best, North, and I'm number seven on that board for a reason. I don't need protecting from anyone, and I'm going on this mission whether you like it or not. Now if you will excuse me, I need to practice with Wyoming so I can protect all of your asses while you complete the objective!"

With that I went back to aiming and fired, sending a shot straight though the target's neck. Hissing in annoyance, I snapped at Wyoming.

"Well are you going to help me, or are you going to stand there all night?"

I heard retreating footsteps, and glanced back to see North rounding the corner out of the target practice room. Trying to ignore the tension, Wyoming worked with me for over an hour, until he was satisfied that I could take a killing shot under pressure. By this time I had calmed down significantly, and was quite proud of my progress so far. Wyoming seemed mildly impressed too.

"That's enough for tonight, my dear. You're quite an attentive student. If you want any future lessons, feel free to ask me."

"Thanks, Wyoming. Stay safe out there; I'll make sure to get as much information for you guys on the ground as possible."

He nodded and left, no doubt starting to head to the armory to gear up for the mission himself. As for me, I took a few more shots until I felt confident of my abilities. After that, I too, headed to the armory. The other Freelancers who were leaving were also retrieving gear. Wash was admiring a Battle Rifle, and Wyoming was busy cleaning his sniper. North and South were grabbing shotgun shells and their respective snipers. North looked up at my entrance and we stared at each other for a minute, before his gaze left mine and went back to examining his shotgun. I felt bad for yelling at him earlier now that I'd calmed down, but he would probably just try and talk me out of the mission again. So I ignored him and picked up six extra sniper clips, and a can of biofoam since it had served me so well last time. I also packed some bandages just in case I needed to dress a minor wound, in addition to a pistol if I happened to stumble across some Innie scouts.

My time to gear up was less than five minutes, and I quickly left for hanger five before anyone could stop me. The Director wanted me to leave with the other teams, but I felt like some preliminary scouting would be beneficial. Boarding the Pelican, I informed the pilot of my specific coordinates, and we were off. Our mission was on the same planet as the other day, but in a different area. This particular area was far different than Exile, and was given the designation Vortex. The ground was supposed to be rocky and barren, with Forerunner structures dotting the landscape. Thankfully, we were going to be arriving at night with plenty of shadows to hide in. The Pelican dropped me off about a click from my target. The ride down had been almost an hour, and my muscles protested at my sudden demand of them, particularly my right leg. My armor felt heavy on this particular mission, and I cursed my brief med-bay visit. The second I was fully able, I was going to spend a whole day in the gym to get back to peak form.

Casting away those thoughts, I breathed in deeply to focus on the mission at hand. The trek over to the site was rough terrain, and by the time I actually got to my position I was positive that my injuries were screaming profanities. Twice I had had to stop to let the burning go away from the pain, and outlying patrols almost caught me both times. Luckily for me they were small, two-man teams and were easily dispatched before they could radio for help. Vortex itself was built into a valley. There were several alcoves and buildings that perfect for cover, and I hid behind a boulder to assess the situation. Once again, I caught sight of two Scorpion tanks, making long circles around the central structure. Mounted turrets covered several angles, and from the looks of it there were at least three entrances into the structure. The UNSC supplies were hard to miss; the crates were out in the open, and Innie forces were struggling to move them into a cave system in the far left of the area. With one target identified, I scoped in on the entrance of the central structure, hoping to catch a glimpse of any high-ranking personnel. The first dozen people who passed in front of my field of view were uninteresting, but then I spotted the target. He was an older gentleman, a general at that, who looked to be in his forties or fifties, and he was shaking hands with a thirty-something year-old guy by the looks of it.

The younger man turned his head to scan the area, and I almost dropped my rifle from shock.

"_Mother of Invention_, this is Agent Colorado. I've found our traitor."

_**Oh snap, who could it be? :O Predictions anyone? As usual, please R&R if you have the time :3 I take all reviews into account and use them to improve my writing. I want to make this story the best it can possibly be, and without feedback, that can't happen because I assume I'm doing everything decently enough xD Anyways, I hope you enjoyed!**_


	6. Chapter 6: Snowball Effect

_**A fresh chapter for you all :3 We finally get to see whom the traitor is! I think it will be a surprise for most of you; maybe not all of you xD TheDeadAngel, thank you for your constant reviews! I'm pretty well-versed with grammar and spelling, but I type so fast that my fingers get clumsy and I make mistakes that I just don't see! I'll be going back through all of my chapters soon and fixing up any mistakes I find. If you see any more, feel free to PM me about them :3 Regardless, please enjoy this latest helping of **__**Wrath of the Rockies**__**!**_

_**Chapter 6**_

"This is _Mother of Invention_, go ahead with your report, Agent Colorado."

I tried to figure out the words to report such an extreme discovery, but found myself speechless. All along I had blamed myself for mistakes I had made with my previous team. Nevada and Arizona were dead because of their lack of training and hard heads, and because of my lack of control over their actions. Looking through the scope now, I felt like I was seeing a ghost. More importantly, I realized that Arizona's rifle had never fallen into enemy hands. The man I was looking at had dirty blond hair and brown eyes. I couldn't have identified his eye color without knowing him first. Arizona had always stuck out in a crowd for being so pale, but here he was, nearly as tan as York was. I heard another hail from the _Mother of Invention_ and finally formulated a report.

"Enemy forces are numerous. Patrols of at least two men walk around the perimeter on approach to the objectives. There are two Scorpion class tanks circling the central structure, and several forces are moving UNSC equipment into a tunnel system. I have positively identified Agent Arizona, previously thought to have been KIA during a break in operation out of system. The VIP is with him. How should I proceed, _Mother of Invention_?"

Little puzzle pieces started to come into focus. Why the shots taken on me had been so sloppy before was now obvious; Arizona had never improved his marksmanship skills. It also explained why he hadn't been distracted by Wyoming's assault with Team C. Arizona had been trained to look for these tactics and counter them, which led to my being shot. So had he targeted me because I was out in the open, or did he have ulterior motives for going after me? More importantly, how had he known that the captain was our target? My blood ran cold as I realized that he probably had an unknown accomplice. Part of me expected to see Nevada walk into view, but I had seen Nevada get riddled with bullets myself. She was dead for sure. Then again, I had assumed the same with Arizona.

"Agent Colorado?" The Director's voice came over my comms, and I began to listen intently to his orders, "You are not to engage. Continue to observe the target and report back on any additional movements. Colorado, when Carolina and her team arrive to take down the general, I want you to bring Arizona down. Try to bring him back to the _Mother of Invention_ alive for interrogation. We need to know whom he's working with. However if it comes down to taking him down or letting him escape, kill him."

"Yes sir, Director."

With this, the comms shut off. I studied the movements of the patrols and timed the Scorpions to see how long their passes were, and how much time the team would have to infiltrate the building without being seen. By now almost all of the crates had been moved into the caves, and I wondered what was inside of them. Lady Luck seemed to be on my side, for one of the Innies dropped a side of his crate and forced his friends to do the same. Out came tumbling standard UNSC rocket launchers, and my eyes went wide. We definitely didn't want the Innies taking control of equipment like that. I filled in the _Mother of Invention_ of the nature of the UNSC stash and was given a short acknowledgement. Without a doubt the team was going to have a field day with this mission.

"Hey! Who are you?!"

The sudden voice was close to my position, and I whipped my head to the right. A patrol of three was running towards me, guns rising up as they realized that they didn't recognize me. _Shit!_ I leapt up and dashed behind the nearest rock. As soon as I made a move to run, the loud cracks of their DMRs rang out, and I immediately knew that I had fucked up big time. This mission was about to get a lot harder. Drawing my pistol, I whipped around the corner, adrenaline pumping through my veins. I popped one guy in the knee, and he went down, howling in pain. I quickly silenced him with another shot, and ducked behind the rock again as round after round of DMR blasted at my cover. I turned the corner again, only to be met with the butt of a rifle as it slammed into my helmet. I stepped back a bit, stunned, but quickly came back and charged. Both guys were now preparing their combat knives, and I gladly pulled out my own to meet them. The first guy that had hit me in the face was closest, and I bull rushed towards him, feinting right at the last second. He fell for it and swiped empty air, while I plunged my knife into his unarmored right shoulder. The second guy got a lucky swing on me and I felt his knife graze my armor, but thankfully his strike was too weak to pierce it. Whirling on him now, I kicked his left leg out from under him and blocked his next swipe, sending the crash of metal on metal echoing into the night. I heard the first guy a second before his knife plunged down towards the back of my neck, but I tumbled out of the way. _That was close; I need to end this now._

I charged once again, and punched my previously wounded guy in the face, sending him reeling. I finished him off with a quick knife slash to the throat, sending a spray of blood across the ground. Guy number two started rushing me, so I flipped my knife so I was holding the blade, and threw it right into his chest. The wound wasn't fatal though, so to silence his agonized cries I wrenched the knife out and slashed it across his throat as well. With the three Innies dead, I quickly looked around for more cover before reinforcements came. There was a single boulder about six hundred feet off, and I tried to run for it. Unfortunately, the adrenaline from the fight was dying out, and I began to feel my wounds worse than before. Hissing in pain, I kept up my frantic pace and stopped only when I had reached the security of the boulder. By now my abs and thigh were burning in protest. I was half-tempted to check the dressings to see if I had torn the injuries open again, but knew it was more dangerous to ditch my armor.

"_Mother of Invention_, I've been compromised. A scouting party happened upon me, but I have no idea if they managed to call for help before I took them down. What is the status of Teams One through Four?"

"We hear you, Agent Colorado. Team One has accomplished their objective and is waiting for extraction. Teams Two, Three, and Four have encountered resistance but have their areas nearly secure. Keep a low profile and continue reporting on enemy activities."

"Understood; expect an update soon."

Drawing out my sniper again, I looked down at the encampment. By the looks of things, the alarm had definitely been triggered. I could see Innie forces gathering into small groups, and a few started their way up the cliff side to where my fight had been. Looking closer, I saw Arizona was also making his way up with them, and my heart dropped. Though not a great marksman, Arizona was kept around for his great tracking skills. I had faith in my combat skills, but when it came down to it, I could not fight a former Freelancer and a patrol of Innies. For the moment, I could only pray that Arizona had gotten sloppy, and that the other teams would arrive shortly. However as the seconds ticked by while I watched Arizona and the Innies around him, I began to grow worried. Already they were at the first body, and Arizona had stooped down to examine him. I had seen Arizona track down targets before, and knew he was trying to determine what had happened to his men before tracking down his mark. It was clear that being "dead" for over half a year hadn't diminished his skills any, much to my dismay.

Looking down over the camp, I could see that the central structure had been put into lockdown. Forerunner barricades had been placed over the doors, and there were men guarding the outside control panels. Narrowing my eyes in thought, I realized that it was going to take some actual time for York to get through the doors. Either that or he'd surprise us all by blazing through the door controls. The two Scorpion tanks had also chosen defensible position. Both were out in the open with plenty of room around them to protect themselves, but with lines of site on the two main entrances. I could make a safe bet that Innies were also guarding all of the secondary entrances.

Again I turned to look at where Arizona and his team were. About three hundred feet off, Arizona was examining the ground and looking towards my boulder. I felt my eyes widen, knowing that I had pretty much been discovered yet again.

"_Mother of Invention_, enemies are inbound on my position, including Agent Arizona. The central structure where the target was sighted has been locked down, and the two Scorpions have taken up defensible positions. Secondary entrances are most likely being guarded by additional Insurrectionist forces."

"Sit tight, Agent Colorado. All four teams have been extracted from their previous objectives and are en route to Vortex."

_Ya, sit tight. It's not like there's a whole patrol out here waiting to take me prisoner, or worse_. Realizing that Arizona was currently my biggest threat, I once again swiveled my rifle to look for him, but a lot more cautiously. As expected, he was swaggering towards my rock, a hard look on his face. Standing up, I took more cover behind the boulder and stashed my rifle under some rocks. My pistol was the only thing useful at this close of a range for me; Wyoming and I hadn't thought that I'd actually have to fight in closer quarters with a sniper, so we hadn't gone over techniques for it. With this thought in mind, I slammed a new clip into my pistol and sheathed my knife on my thigh, waiting for the inevitable. Sadly, I didn't have to wait long.

"Ok, I know you're behind the rock. Throw your weapons out into the open and come out with your hands up. I know you're injured; you can't possibly hope to fight all of us."

I assumed that Arizona was gesturing to Innies around him, and I frantically ran over possible strategies to use. Only one idea stuck out to me as good, and that was to stall him to buy some time for help to arrive. I made sure that the _Mother of Invention_ could hear me, and then I started talking.

"It's been a little while, Arizona. We all thought that you had died on Seras Prime. Instead we find you helping out Insurrectionists. Quite an extreme loyalty shift for you, Arizona."

I could almost imagine the wry smile that was forming on his face. Arizona had always found me more entertaining than threatening. He had respected my authority as a leader though, unlike Nevada.

"Well Colorado, I hadn't expected to see you up and about so soon. How are your injuries coming along?"

It sickened me how amused he was about shooting me, and I could tell he was just bringing up the topic to piss me off.

"Do you really think the Director would have allowed me out here if I wasn't ok? Freelancers know how to take care of their own. Well, at least some of us do."

That barb was aimed right at Arizona, and he knew it too. I heard him sigh in mock annoyance and I could hear footsteps approach my rock. From the sounds of it, he had ordered it surrounded, which quickly became apparent as Innies circled in from both sides with their guns trained on me. I tried to appear confident by leaning back against the boulder with my legs crossed, putting all of my weight on my left leg yet again. The boulder was far from comfortable and only seemed to aggravate my wounds more, but I couldn't appear weak in front of Arizona. As he rounded the corner and into my line of sight, I could see that he had grown a bit of facial hair and had a more rugged appearance to him. Most girls would swoon at the sight of him, but I felt nothing but contempt for him. He was a coward not to come back to the _Mother of Invention_, and an even bigger coward for trying to take me down from a distance. Though I was far from being the best, I still was more skilled than Arizona. If I wasn't injured I was sure I could take him.

"Colorado. You're as defiant as ever to people giving orders. Hand over your weapons and take off your helmet. I want to be able to see your face when we pry you for information."

To my credit I didn't change my stance. The only movement I made was to toss my pistol on the ground and imbed my knife into a rough patch of dirt. An Innie soldier hurried forward and removed them, making sure I had no other hidden weapons. Arizona motioned to my thigh.

"Everything in your pack needs to go too, and I want your helmet."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, though he couldn't see.

"Like I'm going to give you my medical supplies AND my helmet. What kind of fool do you take me for? You can have my weapons, but if anyone makes a move to touch anything else that's on me, I'll shoot them. But hey, all I've gotten to do is take on three guys at once, and that was barely a warm up. Go on, just TRY to take my gear."

Arizona smirked at me and nodded to a couple of the Innies.

"It was always the hard way with you, Colorado. I can tell that your gunshots are bothering you."

At once, two of them jumped me. I punched one in the face and headbutted the other one, causing a loud crack to be heard and blood to splatter out of his nose. He fell back on the ground, howling in agony. I smirked, and watched as the first guy came rushing me yet again. I ducked his fist and grabbed him, spinning him around so he was pinned. His pistol I took from his holster and pointed at the other enemies around me, Arizona included.

"You see? You've always seemed to underestimate me, Arizona."

"On the contrary, Colorado. I overestimate you."

At once, the loud crack of a rifle could be heard, and, out of instinct, I flattened myself against the boulder. The guy I had been using as shield immediately took the sniper bullet for me. In shock, I dropped him, and he slumped to the ground, blood pooling from a bullet wound on his chest. My armor also had some of his blood stained on me, and I growled in frustration. The situation had gotten worse within a second; with snipers trained on me, there was no where to run without getting shot, and these guys seemed like actual marksmen.

"You see? Now just surrender like a good little girl and come down to the base with us. We only have a few questions for you."

I examined my options and was close to giving up and hoping the others could perform a rescue op as well, when a familiar voice filled my comms.

"Stay low, Colorado. We've got eyes on you and Arizona."

I smiled in relief. Wyoming was on over watch, and I could only imagine that they had pinpointed the locations of enemy snipers. Now Carolina was speaking to me.

"The second you hear a shot go off, go for Arizona; we have you covered. This operation is going to get a lot messier."

I was hoping she wasn't expecting a response, because she wasn't going to get one, lest I blow my cover even more.

"Cat got your tongue, Colorado? I'll take it that you're surrendering. Restrain her, gentlemen."

However before the Innies could make a move, a single shot rang out. At once I was in action, pushing through the troops Arizona had and tackling him to the ground. The ensuing chaos was fantastic. Some of the Innies tried to pry Arizona and I apart as we tumbled through the dirt, and others were scanning for where the shot had come from. Mere seconds after, they began to drop like flies as Wyoming went to work on covering me. From out of an alcove of rocks I could see the familiar armor colors of my fellow Freelancers rush out, and I had never been so happy to see them before in my life. In my distraction, Arizona managed to swing a fist right into my armored jaw, and I fell off of him, stars dancing in my vision. I had forgotten how hard of a hitter Arizona was, that was for damn sure. In my prone state, he took the opportunity to draw his knife and tackle me, trying to maneuver the blade into a weak spot on my armor. Frantically, I kicked him off and jumped up. However I landed with all of my weight on my right leg, and I felt it buckle under the stress, sending me sprawling into the rocks.

Now Arizona was on the offensive, swinging left and right while trying to land some stabs as I dodged away. In my focus on trying to predict his movements, I missed the rock behind me until I was tripping over it. Arizona pinned my arms to the ground and placed the blade across my throat. Both of us were breathing hard, though mine sounded more labored than his did.

"You know what, Colorado? You're more trouble than you're worth. The big guys upstairs wanted you brought back alive, but I think they'll understand if I bring you back in a body bag instead."

I struggled against him, trying to bring one of my legs around to kick him off, but with his weight on my abdomen, every movement felt like getting shot all over again. Just as I felt his blade pushing against my exposed neck, I felt his weight lift off of me. Slightly dazed I shook my head and turned to see where he had gone. I gasped as I saw him on the ground with North, and both were trying to pin the other. In shock, I could only stare as the two Freelancers, one current and one former, fought tooth and nail to get an advantage. I quickly looked around and realized that I had landed near my sniper. Pushing the rocks off of it, and bringing it around, I looked towards the fight.

North was clearly winning, but I could see that his left arm had taken a nasty hit. A single drop of blood flew from the wound and onto the ground. Arizona was tiring quickly, and just when I thought that North had him pinned, Arizona freed his arm and rammed the knife straight into North's chest, withdrawing it immediately. North himself released Arizona, and was promptly kicked into the dust.

"North!"

The scream sounded foreign to me, filled with a primal fear and rage I hadn't known existed. Bringing my sniper to bear, I took aim, and fired. Though I was only about twenty feet from Arizona, I hit him square in the knee, and down he went, roaring in pain and fury. I scrambled over to North, ignoring my own wounds, and flipped him over. He was bleeding furiously, but I couldn't tell which organ had been stabbed. I ripped the biofoam I had out of my pouch and quickly filled the wound, before removing his helmet to check for a pulse. His pulse was there, but was weak. Immediately, I opened a comm to Carolina.

"Carolina! North has been wounded! We need to get back to the _Mother of Invention_ NOW!"

The sounds of fighting could be heard clearly over her comms, and she sounded tense.

"He needs to hold on, Colorado! We're a little busy down here!"

"I don't give a shit about the objective, Carolina. I want a Pelican down here to extract North immediately!"

"Colorado! You will follow orders! The area is too hot for a Pelican to land; those tanks are still up. We need you to give us cover with your rifle right now!"

"What about North?! He needs help!"

"He's going to have to hold on until we're done here, Colorado! Now get your sniper trained on those tanks; that's an order!"

Frustrated, I cut the link and looked at North. He was out cold, and Arizona was on the ground out as well. Much as I hated to help him, I filled Arizona's wound with biofoam and wrapped it in a bandage. Hopefully he'd be out until we got back to the _Mother of Invention_. As for North, I hefted his body over my shoulder and carried him over to the boulder where we'd have more cover. I protectively crouched in front of his body as a kind of shield, and aimed down. Both tanks were firing mercilessly at a Forerunner building, where I assumed the rest of the team was holed up for now. I breathed, trying to control my nerves like Wyoming had told me, and fired. The head of an Innie exploded inside the drivers' portion of the tank, and immediately the tank became nothing more than a decoration on the barren landscape. As for the second tank, I only had site on the treads. I unloaded my three remaining shots into it and loaded in another clip. This time I was rewarded after my fourth shot with a fantastic explosion, though I had no idea if I had killed the driver or not. Almost immediately, Carolina's voice came over my helmet once again.

"Nice work, Colorado. Keep on over watch and take down any targets you see giving us trouble."

"You can count on me, Carolina."

I looked back quickly to check on North. He was still unconscious, and I could see no change in his breathing. I supposed I should be thankful that he was breathing at all. Turning back to the battlefield, I tried to concentrate on nothing but the feel of the rifle, and of spotting my next target. As the team moved up, I took down whatever enemies they couldn't reach or see. I started to grow worried when I slammed in my last clip.

"Carolina, I have four shots left. When you see a target that you want me to light up, tell me."

Nothing but radio silence ensued.

"Carolina? Did you receive my last communication?"

There was no answer.

"_Mother of Invention_, this is Agent Colorado. I have lost contact with Agent Carolina. What is her status?"

All I got was static, and now I truly started to feel a cold fear settle into my stomach. I looked through my scope and caught a flash of white. Wash was supporting Maine with his shoulder, and Carolina and Wyoming were firing behind them. I had four shots left, and when I saw nearly thirty Innies going after the team. I knew what I was going to use them on. _Crack!_ I aimed my bullet so that it rammed through two men. Two more shots credited with me with two more kills, and my fourth shot brought down two more. I dropped my rifle and stumbled back to North. The constant recoil of the rifle had bothered my wound, and I could tell that it had opened up again. Taking a risk, I stripped off my chest plate and brought my under armor up to look at the wound. The gauze was soaked red, and I felt myself sigh in acceptance. Nevertheless, I gently removed the bandages and used my remaining biofoam to partially close the wound. When I ran out, I used my remaining bandages to close the injury to the open air. I sighed and sunk down to the ground next to North.

"Carolina, do you read me?"

Silence yet again. I closed my eyes and felt myself drifting slightly, but I refused to nod off. I had to keep North safe so he could get the help he needed. When footsteps started coming towards the boulder, I got up and stood protectively over North, my breathing harsh. For a brief second I thought it was South, but I realized my mistake shortly thereafter.

"Well well, what do we have here? Two Freelancers, and one asleep on the job? I thought you all were supposed to be invincible. At least, that's what the men say."

I saw the man the voice belonged to stoop down, and I recognized the general immediately. We had failed our objective. The Innies around him chuckled, and I clenched my fists.

"Touch either of us, and I will kill every fucking one of you."

My voice was low and dangerous, but anyone could hear the exhaustion in it.

The general looked intrigued for a moment, before he smiled.

"Trying to protect your little boyfriend here? If you come quietly, we'll treat him and send him back on his way, unharmed. However you will stay with us. If you don't come quietly, you both will regret it."

I hesitated at this, and looked down at North. His breathing was shallow, and I couldn't tell how much longer he would last without help. My own wound was already dragging my strength down again, and I knew I wouldn't succeed in a fight against them. My pride didn't want me to surrender, but my affections for North refused to allow me to put him into any more danger. I let my shoulders sag and I let my aggressive pose sink into one of submission. The general chuckled.

"Excellent choice, my dear. Bring them into the med-bay for treatment, and give her boyfriend a ride out of here when he's been seen to, unharmed. And will somebody wake up William and get him up?!"

I knew he was referring to Arizona when he called him William. We weren't supposed to give our real names, but he had disobeyed orders anyway. Regardless, the Innies had to get three guys to carry North, and two more tried to restrain me. I shook them both off and spat off venomously, "I can walk by myself." This earned another round of laughter from the Innies, and I felt my blood boil to a point where I would beat the shit out of all of them. However with North at stake, I kept my violent temper in check, all the while hoping that help would come soon. Seeing the Innie compound get larger, I could only truly realize one thing.

We had been captured.

_**I consider this to be my favorite chapter xD just saying. But will Colorado be able to keep her temper in check? Keep an eye out for chapter 7! Thank you in advance if you decide to review after finishing this chapter :3**_


	7. Chapter 7: Deal with the Devil

_**And here we go! Another chapter for you all :3 Please enjoy!**_

_**Chapter 7**_

Surprisingly enough, the Innies were rather well equipped with their medical supplies. They had a medical bay that wasn't nearly as well stocked as the one onboard the _Mother of Invention_, but it had the basic necessities for treating the wounded. I refused to let them work on me until North had been seen to, and they had agreed quickly (after a few well versed threats). I kept a careful watch on them as they tended to North, making sure they didn't implant anything questionable into his chest. The procedure took two hours, and in that time I felt myself drifting in and out of true consciousness. The biofoam and bandages had helped to slow the bleeding, but it still needed attention, and the blood loss was beginning to catch up to me. However my own injuries didn't matter to me when North was injured. North had rescued me from Arizona, and this deal with the general was the least I could do to repay him. When they let him go, he could go back to the _Mother of Invention_ and bring a rescue party. However in the back of my mind, I was scared that they would keep North here as leverage against me. The general was no fool; he had seen my reaction when his men had surrounded us. He had to know that North meant something more to me than just another agent. Looking over at North now, I could see the medics cleaning up. I motioned one over, and she complied quickly, clearly remembering my previous methods of persuasion to get them to work on North first.

"So? How is he? Will he live?"

The woman smiled kindly, clearly knowing how much North meant to me.

"He'll be fine. The knife wound was deep, but didn't strike any major organs. He lost a lot of blood from it since there were so many veins in that particular area, but the wound looked worse than it was. He's going to be fine."

I sighed in relief and laid my head back against the wall. North was going to be ok, and that was all that mattered to me right now. I felt a hand touch my shoulder, and I stiffened instinctively. Turning to see the face, I realized that it was the general. I scowled under my helmet, hoping my posture gave it away that his touch was nowhere near welcome. When he didn't get the hint, I brushed his hand off of my shoulder

"Refrain from physical contact, Innie. For all you know I would have broken your hand."

I may have agreed to come quietly when I surrendered, but that didn't mean I had to be polite or cooperative. He was sadly mistaken if he thought that being nice was in our deal. The look on his face was sheer annoyance after I was done talking.

"Last I checked, _Freelancer_, you were in no position to get smart with me."

"Last I looked, _Innie_, being polite was not in the deal. And if you want any cooperation from me, you're going to allow me to make sure your boys don't have any ideas to execute North when he leaves. Otherwise you can kiss any chance of cooperation goodbye."

I crossed my arms and leaned back against the wall. They still hadn't taken my armor for whatever reason, so I still had my comms. However I had also remembered the jammed signal earlier, and hadn't bothered trying to hail the _Mother of Invention_. The general seemed amused by my demands, and mirrored my crossed arms.

"And what makes you think that you can give ME orders?"

"The fact that Innies can't be trusted. If it will prevent your men from shitting their pants, I'll even leave my armor here when I escort North out of here. After all, trust begins when one side makes an allowance, right?"

The general narrowed his eyes, clearly not liking my tone or my reasoning. However when he didn't respond I pressed further.

"I've already made an allowance, General. I put MY teammate into YOUR care. Now if you want me to trust you, you WILL let me escort North out of here. After that I will come back without a fight. I'm not going to put him in any more danger."

I had turned to look at North while I spoke, and regarded him softly, hoping that what the doctor said was true and that North was going to be ok. The general himself hadn't moved and had to clear his throat before I looked at him again.

"Very well, Freelancer. I will allow you to escort your "friend" out of here, but if my boys give me a report of any trouble from you, I'll let them shoot both you and your friend. Are we clear?"

"Crystal, General."

At this, he turned and walked away. I could've sworn I heard something along the lines of 'moody bitch' as he walked away, but I couldn't be certain. Instead I contented myself with sitting next to North's bedside. One of the doctors came up and requested to treat my injuries, but I refused once again. Blood loss or not, I was going to make sure that nothing happened to North. However, the female doctor from earlier came up to sit with me. After a couple of minutes, she spoke to me again.

"I know it doesn't mean much, but you can at least trust us in the medical bay. We just want to help people. Otherwise we would have refused to help your friend here."

I shifted slightly, unable to get comfortable in chairs that had been provided.

"I trust you more than the general and his cronies, but not by much. My only ally here is my friend. For what it's worth to YOU, thank you for helping him. I'd never forgive myself if he had died for me."

"He tried to save you from someone, then?"

I didn't trust this woman much more than the general, but she hadn't tried to harm me yet. A basic explanation would suffice.

"Your boy William over there almost killed me before North pushed him off. If he hadn't of caught William's attention, I wouldn't be here right now. The least I could do is work out a deal to get him out of here."

"I see… So he's just your friend? I heard the general call him your boyfriend."

Looking at North's sleeping figure, I tried to formulate a response.

"No, we're not a couple, just teammates."

"Do you want to be a couple? I saw the way you were looking at him."

Everyone on the _Mother of Invention_ was blind to feelings for one another. We had to be, or else it might cause distractions for the agents. Distractions caused problems, and problems could lead to fatal mistakes. North had almost been killed because he wanted to protect me, and I felt guilty over it. I was surprised that this woman was so in tune to other people's emotions. However I was not going to let her in on my little crush for him, nor was I going to completely deny it.

"I'm not going to answer that."

Silence elapsed, and she tried to persuade me out of the chair.

"I know you want to look after him, but we really need to see to your wounds. You're pale and seem disoriented."

"I'm not going anywhere."

The doctor huffed in annoyance.

"Look, I know you're trying to be tough, but you can't help your friend if you pass out. If you'd like, we can administer biofoam to seal the wound now, and actually seal it up seriously later when you come back."

Behind my helmet, I narrowed my eyes.

"No anesthetic. You can put me down later."

The good doctor grumbled and led me over to another bed. I removed my armor and laid my head down.

"The one giving me trouble earlier was right here," I motioned over the left side of my abdomen, "and on my right thigh."

She gently lifted my under armor and hissed at the wound; the bandages were soaked with blood and she glared at me.

"This should have been seen too immediately! Why didn't you mention this?!"

I glared right back, my green eyes spitting embers.

"Because I'm not the one who matters here."

She rolled her eyes and went to work. The bandages, once removed, were disposed of, and she examined the wound in detail. When she poked the outside of it, I bit back a yell of pain. She looked at me, both amused and questioning.

"I guess all that toughness was a façade earlier, hm? When did you get these wounds?"

I sighed, feeling like I was about to get a lecture.

"Two days ago."

"Your commanding officer sent you out into the field that soon?! You should have been resting for at least a week, and even then, light duties only!"

I snorted at how much she sounded like the doctors up on the _Mother of Invention_.

"Before you go blaming my superiors, Doctor, I ASKED to come down here."

"Well then you're a dumbass."

I blinked in surprise at her harsh tone, but had busied herself with getting biofoam out.

"This is going to sting a bit. This biofoam also has antibacterial enhancements to ward off infection."

I nodded in reply, but expected only a slight sting. This felt like alcohol was being dumped into the wound, and this time I couldn't help the yowl of agony that escaped my throat. Unfortunately this also woke North up. He practically sprang out of bed and looked around wildly before his eyes landed on my own pained ones. Naturally he drew the conclusion that I was in trouble and flung the doctor away from me.

"'Rado! Are you ok? Did she hurt you?"

For a second I could only looked at him, shocked that he had so quickly reacted. However I quickly got my shock under control.

"No North, she's just trying to-"

"What's going on in here?!"

The general's booming voice came from the doorway, and he took in the scene before him. The doctor was lifting herself off of the floor, and North had taken a protective position in front of me. North took a threatening step forward.

"I could ask you the same question!"

"North, stop!"

Hearing me, he turned around, puzzled.

"It's just a misunderstanding. These people are trying to help us. They fixed up your knife wound, and you just flung away the doctor trying to help me. Please North, just sit down."

He looked from me to the general, and then back to me before complying. There was a single chair next to my bed, and he sat down, silently daring anyone he didn't know to come closer. I sighed in relief and lay back down. When I looked back up, the general had gone without a word, and the doctor was walking back over. She glared at North before finishing up with the biofoam on my abdomen injury.

"Some thanks for helping you out. The wall isn't exactly soft you know."

Instead of responding to her, North turned to me.

"What happened, 'Rado? The last thing I remember is Arizona getting a lucky shot on me."

I sighed, knowing that he was going to hate me by the end of this.

"Well after Arizona stabbed you, I blew a sniper round through his kneecap. I administered some biofoam to help stem the bleeding, but I knew you needed more than that. However we failed our mission, North… the rest of the team was driven back and I assume escaped. And as you can see, we're kind of captives right now."

"Ok, but you've got this look that says there's more. Spill."

"You're going to hate me for this, North. I was on over watch on the cliffs and was also pulling bodyguard for you. After I lost sight of Carolina and the rest of the team, the general and a bunch of his men showed up. I was ready to fight, North, but when they threatened you… I offered to come quietly in exchange for them treating you and then releasing you."

North had gone speechless, and his beautiful blue eyes were wide with disbelief. Then, he seemed to snap himself back into focus and took my hand, looking at both my abs and my injured leg.

"Why, 'Rado?"

I chuckled slightly, but there was no joy in it.

"A couple reasons, North. For one, the fight I had with Arizona tore open at least my abdomen again. And as for the second reason… I felt responsible for you getting stabbed. I know how you felt after Exile now, and seeing you lying there scared me half to death. Regardless, neither of us was in a state to fight when they found us. Now that you're better though, you can go back to the ship and at least tell them what happened. The Director can be assured that I'll die before I tell them anything."

My gaze hardened, and I looked towards the door, half expecting the general to walk in. I still hadn't caught his name yet, but to North that didn't matter in the least.

"Fuck that! I'm not going to leave you here with them!"

"North, just wait-"

"No! If I have to hijack an entire tank to get you out of here, I will."

"NORTH! Just listen, damn it! The deal has already been struck. If either of us breaks it, they're just going to kill us! It's going to be up to you to get help from the _Mother of Invention_ before they resort to torture like I think they will. Please, this is my choice, and is my way of repaying you for saving me earlier. Now it's my turn to do the same."

The doctor had finished with both biofoam and bandages for now, and had left the room to give us some privacy. That didn't seem to matter though, as an awkward silence enveloped the room. If a pin were to drop in the room, it could be clearly heard.

"Do you remember," North suddenly spoke up, "what I said my first impression of you was?"

I smiled, recalling the memory.

"You said you thought I was a stuck-up bitch because I was always so matter-of-fact when answering questions. Why bring this up now though?"

He, too, was smiling at the thought.

"I brought it up because I realized how wrong I was. You are one of the most selfless women I know, crazy ass temper and all."

I laughed and sat up so that I could rest my head on his strong shoulder. For at least a few moments, both of us were safe, we hadn't been separated, and North was going to bring help from the _Mother of Invention_. No matter what the next day would bring, I could take solace in the fact that I succeeded in keeping North out of harm's way. I felt his arm wrap around my waist and pull me into a tight hug.

"No matter what happens, 'Rado, we'll come back for you. Just stay strong."

He sounded unhappily resigned to leaving me behind, knowing that there was no way for us to reasonably escape together. My negotiating for a get out of jail free card was our best bet for a future rescue. However, if I didn't make it out of here, I'd regret not telling him about my feelings sooner.

"North, I-I just wanted to say that if I don't make it out of here, I-"

The sound of several pairs of feet hitting the ground interrupted me, and the general came in with four other men behind him. I could feel North pull me a little closer, and I didn't protest. I most likely wouldn't see a friendly face for at least a couple of days, and the thought of being so deep into enemy territory alone frightened me. He motioned to both of us.

"You, Boyfriend, get your armor back on and bring her. We're going to take you back to the alcove where your friends ambushed us from, and we're going to leave you there. She is staying with us," his voice told North not to challenge him, "and when we get the information we need from her, she is free to go back."

I glared at him, and even with my small size, I made an intimidating figure.

"You seem pretty sure that I'm going to tell you what you want. What makes you so sure, General?"

He smiled darkly and placed his hand on a folder tucked under his arm.

"Oh, we have our ways Miss. Colorado. Physical torture isn't our only method of interrogation."

North looked like he wanted to kill the general and everyone here at that threat, but I placed a gentle hold on his arm and shook my head, my gaze not leaving the general.

"It's going to take a lot more than a file to scare me."

He laughed, and there was a cold amusement in there, and a certainty that he could break me like a twig.

"Well we shall see, won't we my dear? Now you, Boyfriend, get your gear together."

Scowling, North gathered up his armor and equipped it, taking much longer than he would of if we were on the _Mother of Invention_. I knew he was stalling to get more time with me and to delay his departure, and I gave him a look that told him I knew what he was up to. He smirked at me and winked, before pulling his helmet on. The general figured him as being ready, and motioned for us to follow him. I hopped off the bed to follow, and felt my wounds twinge again. I sighed in frustration and looked around for some crutches. Luckily, North had me covered. I felt his arms go beneath me and lift me up as easily as he would a pillow. I began to protest, but then huffed in annoyance as I realized that he wasn't listening. Instead I wrapped my arms around his neck for extra security, and watched as we were led into another structure. From what I could tell, the Innies had made this their temporary garage. The General motioned to a carrier hog, and North set me down inside before climbing in himself. The general got into the driver's seat of a Gauss Warthog, and one guy hopped into the gunner, while two guys hopped into the carrier hog. North and I were the only ones in back, but I felt that we didn't have the privacy to continue the conversation from earlier.

Unfortunately the drive seemed to be shorter than I would have liked, and soon enough the cars were slowing down. I recognized the rock formations where the team had rushed from earlier. North had noticed this too, and squeezed my hand once before getting out of the vehicle. The general leaned out of the car.

"And this is where we leave you, my friend. Don't worry about your girlfriend; she'll be returned to you unharmed, assuming she cooperates."

I heard this and was tempted to grab a rock off of the ground and chuck it at the back of the general's head. He thought I was easy to break? I would show him. I'd be the most stubborn prisoner he'd ever had. North's fists clenched, and I could only assume he was contemplating punching the general out then and there, but the site of the Gauss turret on him seemed to stay his hand. Instead, he cast one last look at me, and then turned and walked away. The general chuckled and shook his head, obviously coldly amused at North's obvious show of restraint, and then motioned for our convoy to leave.

"The second we return to base, bring Agent Colorado to the interrogation room. I want her broken before Project Freelancer comes back to claim her."

_**North's POV**_

The general's words kept ringing in my ears as the convoy got further and further away. _She'll be returned to you unharmed, assuming she cooperates._ I knew Colorado. I knew what she was afraid of and how she thought. I knew what her strengths were and what made her weak. As much as I willed her not to cause problems for herself, she had already declared that she would rather die than turn traitor towards Freelancer. I sighed, replaying her words from the medical facilities the Innies had set up. _North, I-I just wanted to say that if I don't make it out of here, I-_. And that had been it. What had she been about to say?! It was driving me mad thinking about the possibilities, but my heart kept hoping that she been about to say, _I love you_. Since South had formally introduced us, I had found her attractive, if a bit of bitch at first. Her no-nonsense attitude and spitfire personality were something exotic to me. I mean I had always had South who shared many of the same qualities, but to find them in yet another woman seemed impossible. Granted, Carolina was also fiery and determined, but it was obvious that York was falling for her more every day. I would never steal a woman from my best friend.

Propping myself on a rock, I tried stretching but stopped as my freshly sewn wound ached. Tapping my comms, I tried hailing the _Mother of Invention_, and was relieved when I received a response.

"This is Agent North Dakota. I need immediate extraction outside of Vortex. I did sustain injury, however a temporary fix has been put into place. Agent Colorado opted to stay behind with Insurrectionist forces to secure my release and to buy Project Freelancer time to formulate a rescue immediately. Insurrectionist forces have threatened her with physical and mental harm."

"Agent North Dakota," the familiar southern drawl of the Director came loud and clear over my comms unit, "we are pleased to hear that you were released relatively unharmed. We will have a Pelican en route to extract you momentarily. When you return we will debrief you immediately and begin plans for a rescue mission. Do not take any further hostile actions towards the enemy. Am I understood?"

"With all due respect, Sir, if you transport Carolina and the rest of her team down here, we could mount a rescue right now while they're unprepared."

"That is a negative, Agent North. Agent Carolina and her team, and you I'm sure, need time to recover from your ordeal. We will need to wait at least a week until we're ready to plan a rescue."

Normally I would agree with him, but this was Colorado. She had given herself up freely to make sure I got out, and to leave her there for a week as a prisoner was an unacceptable estimation of time.

"Sir, I don't know if you heard me before, but the former target of our botched operation has threatened to torture YOUR agent until she gives up information about YOUR project. A week is an unacceptably slow time to mount a rescue for a captured operative."

"I heard you loud and clear before, North. However Agent Colorado will have to endure until our best agents have fully recovered and are ready for deployment again, including you. I want no more arguing, do you understand?"

I couldn't believe that he was so resigned to leaving one of his top agents in enemy hands. Was this a joke to him? Did he find Colorado to be a disposable agent? Regardless, I found it hard to control my anger as I gave a downcast affirmation and signed off. Waiting for extraction had me thinking about all the time that 'Rado and I had spent together. Her laugh and smile were always quick to come when you got to know her, but to many of the other Freelancers she was enclosed and devoid of a sense of humor. Getting her to open up was a task that seemed insurmountable, but I was sure she'd warm up to everyone else eventually.

I also remembered that stupid fight we had had in the locker room. I couldn't forget the hurt I'd seen in her face when I'd called her a child. That had been so stupid of me. It was clear that she had only wanted to keep her sour mood to herself, but I had taken it the wrong way. Had Carolina not intervened, we might not have even spoken. Then there had been our fight in the target practice room. When she had asked me why I wanted to protect her, I just couldn't formulate an answer. I wanted to protect her because I needed her by my side and within reach. After the incident on Exile I realized just how close I had come to losing her. However I let fear hold me back from admitting my feelings, just as I had today. I wanted to tell her in the jeep what had been on my mind, but I just couldn't find the words.

Now I could only hope that when we returned, it wouldn't be too late for a rescue. If 'Rado died, a part of me would die with her.

_**So not my best chapter, but I think it's ok :3 a lot of development for North and 'Rado's relationship, even if it doesn't seem like it. As usual, please R&R, especially my portrayal of North. **_


	8. Chapter 8: Pains and Plans

_**Oh snap, it's chapter 8! I'm pleased at the progress this story is making, and am hoping that you guys as readers are enjoying the ride as much as I am story-wise!**_

_**Chapter 8**_

Apparently the general thought that he needed as much time as possible to pump me for information, so as soon as we got back from dropping North off, I was tossed into interrogation. It had been two hours, and already, being caged in here with no hint of being talked to was driving me batty, though I knew it was a common interrogation tactic. I was half-tempted to start walking around the room, but knew my leg would only get worse. The doctor hadn't had a chance to look at it, and I could feel the heat of it through my under armor. The general had seen fit to confiscate my actual armor for "safety reasons regarding his personnel," and had had it locked away in an unknown location. If they scratched the paint job on it I'd probably end up breaking someone's hand when I got out, considering the armor was worth more than any Innies' hands. They had, however, allowed the "luxury" of a glass of water, which I took small sips of every once in a while. If they planned on depriving me of water, however, I'd toss the rest of the water down in one swallow. The Director had had us study methods of torture at one point in order to prepare us for capture. Granted, he made it very clear that failing an objective was inexcusable, but the information we possessed was far too valuable, at least in his opinion, for us to spill to outside sources. So we had been tossed into a class and told of forms of torture, both outdated and recent, that we would need to be prepared for.

My personal favorite (though I would never perform it myself) was the old medieval form of torture where they strapped your arms and legs at opposite sides of a board and essentially pulled you apart. It was a very effective means of interrogation, but the technology we had now was so much more effective. After all, why stretch someone when you could easily just torture him or her with an energy sword? Or inject them with what people called "Basilisk Venom?" With that all you had to do was administer a small dose and watch them writhe in agony until they finally gave in and requested the antidote. Though the method was ancient, most commonly interrogation would begin a rising climax of torture by depriving the subject of necessary hydration and nutrients. This made the target weak and more susceptible to future methods of obtaining information. For my part, I had voluntarily taken a course in learning to resist the most commonly used methods of torture. I had starved myself for seven days (the entire span of the class), but only went a day and a half before negotiating for water. The human body could go without food for long amounts of time, but water for necessary for survival. The Director had been disappointed in my quick need for water, but had passed me since I had done moderately well in resisting other forms of torture, such as physical mutilation. I still had a scar on my arm from where one of my "captors" had dug a little too deep with a knife.

Thinking on this, I didn't notice Arizona had entered the room until he cleared his throat. I snapped my head up in a brief moment of surprise, and smirked in amusement. Crutches were leaning against the wall, and I couldn't help but let out a chuckle of amusement.

"How's your leg holding up, Arizona? Or is it William now?"

He scowled across the table at me, his roughed up appearance taking up a look of darker intent. I half-expected him to reach across the table and slap me, but instead, he reached down and slapped something on the table. Upon closer examination, I found it to be a manila folder that was fairly full regarding files and papers.

"How is YOUR leg holding up, Colorado? Or is it Serena now?"

I narrowed my eyes at him, taking in the manila folder with a whole new respect. I had never told Arizona my name (I was firm when it came to keeping personal information out of Freelancer), and now I was positive that he had someone from the _Mother of Invention_ working with him. I made a move to grab the folder, but Arizona's reflexes proved to be faster as he snatched it away from my grasp.

"Oh no, Colorado. This is for my eyes for now. Besides, I'm sure you already know some of the information contained in this file. I especially loved the story about the death of your younger brother. I had always wondered why you hated the Insurrection so much, and now I know."

I could feel the color drain out of my face as he brought up my little brother. No one knew that; only the Director had, and I had assured him that the memories wouldn't interfere with my job as an agent of Project Freelancer. I had been only twenty-two when Blake was killed in a crossfire between UNSC forces and insurrectionists. He had only been fifteen. A month after Blake's funeral, I had signed up to join the UNSC. A few months later Project Freelancer picked me up. If Arizona knew about that, what else did he know about? I tried to school my face to neutrality, acting as if what he said hadn't bothered me.

"It's been years, Arizona. I've come to terms with Blake's death."

He smirked at me, and I could tell that he had noticed my shock. I glared at him and felt my control snap. Thrusting myself towards him, I reared back a fist and swung. A triumphant smile creased over my face as my fist connected, and sent him sprawling onto the floor. Angry, he came straight back up and tried to retaliate. I got into a defensive stance, assuming he'd go for my face. What I did not expect was for him to land a punch straight on my injured leg! Agony raced up my body, and I screamed in pain, before pushing Arizona away weakly and backing up against a wall to use as support. Arizona brought a hand up to his face and felt the check I'd smashed before glaring at me.

"You think your leg hurts now, Colorado? Just wait until we're through with you; you'll be begging for mercy before the end!"

It was a cliché line, but I took the thinly veiled threat on my leg seriously. Going on this mission had been a fool's errand; I should have just listened to North instead of insisting I knew best. Eerily, I realized just how much I sounded like Nevada, and hoped that it wasn't an omen. Regardless, I stared at Arizona angrily as he scooped up the file and stalked out of the room. The door slammed shut, leaving me to my own devices. Sighing in annoyance, I hopped on my left leg over to the table and propped my right leg up once I sat down. I needed time to reflect, and time to brace myself for the tools they were going to use against me. My course had not covered mental torture because the Director counted on our pasts being secure information. The game was changed now, however, since Arizona apparently had an entire file on me. It was hard to think of what the Innies were going to use against me. Everything I had done in the past was done for a reason, and everything that had happened to me was something that I had taken in stride and tried to cope with. Everything from my past was what made me the woman I was today, and I was confident that this would be nothing but a bad memory that would make me stronger when I got out. I had faith that North would be back within the next seventy-two hours though, so I expected a short visit. A lot could happen in that time, but I was confident that I could parry any attempts at minor torture. My leg, however, was a different story. It needed professional attention, as much as I hated to admit it. However I bet they weren't going to just give me whatever I wanted any more. Unless I was close to death, they were going to make sure I was in as much pain as possible.

I scowled; same old Innies. What I didn't know though, was that the very people I loathed were discussing me on the other side of the one-way window.

_**Arizona's POV**_

"Well, William? You know her best out of all of us. She is as stubborn as an ox, but she must have weaknesses."

"General Gray, Colorado is a tough woman, however her affections for North were obvious. I don't know why you let him go when we could have used him. Other than that, if we go heavy on more physical persuasion, I'm sure she'll break eventually. What kind of serums do we have?"

I could imagine the look on my face; cold and calculating, eager to start beating Colorado down. The bitch had left Nevada and I for dead on Seras Prime, and then had the nerve to call me a traitor. I had wanted to bring Colorado down since I had gotten involved with the Insurrection. They had the resources and the manpower to help me, so in exchange for my help in digging into Project Freelancer, they helped me in my little vendetta. Was it petty? Maybe in the grand scheme of things, but for now I just wanted the woman who nearly got me killed to hurt as much as possible. General Gray was giving me a stern look; the one he gave me when he could see my rage beginning to do the talking.

"I honored a deal, William. And you would do well not to question my decisions. We don't need to use a small thing like a love affair to get what we want. Our current supply of serums include a small vial of Basilisk Venom, a few syringes of Cobra venom, a poison made from funnel web spiders, and an untested one our forces stole from some UNSC eggheads. Our scientists don't know how they made it, or even what it does. We only managed to save a vial, however, as the UNSC was in the process of destroying the whole lot of it. I only want it used as a last resort. Otherwise you might be interested in this little vial."

General Gray reached into his pocket and pulled out a noxious looking brown liquid for me to examine.

"And…? What does this do?"

He chuckled slightly.

"This, dear William, is an extract from what the locals call the Burning Bell. It's a relatively harmless toxin, but for up to twelve hours after it is introduced into the circulatory system, the subject's blood essentially feels like it's on fire in their veins. There is no known antidote, so hope she doesn't ask for one if you use it."

I took the vial and smiled at it, just imagining Colorado writhing around on the ground at my mercy because of this small amount of liquid. Pocketing it, I turned to him again.

"Are you prepared for the other Freelancers to return for her? The Director won't leave a loose end for us to keep you know. Either he'll take her back, or order the other Freelancers to take her down."

The general stroked his chin contemplatively, and motioned to the window.

"You say they will come for her? The best we can do is bring in extra security. Nowhere else on the planet is as secure as this building. Do you have any suggestions, William?"

I smirked and looked back into the interrogation room. Colorado was idly sipping water and seemed to try and cuddle more into the chair, as if she was going to take a nap. Part of me hoped that she enjoy the sleep she got now, and part of me wanted to keep her awake for as long as possible. However the door opened and in walked Dr. Sophie Blanchard. She had been in charge of treating both North and Colorado earlier. As I watched, Colorado revealed her leg wound, and the doctor began treating her. I looked at the general, anger grabbing at my features.

"What the hell is this?! Who gave her permission to treat Colorado?!"

"No one. She's a doctor, William. She goes where she's needed most and clearly arranged some sort of treatment with Colorado beforehand. If you want to stop it, be my guest."

"It will be my pleasure."

I stalked over to the door and flung it open, not caring about whether I made a hole in the wall or not. Both Dr. Sophie and Colorado looked up, and both of them had different levels of irritation. Colorado always looked angry, so I disregarded her. Dr. Sophie looked more irritated than normal but turned and continued her treatment of Colorado's leg. She began to insert biofoam into the wound and Colorado's face twisted in pain. For a moment I enjoyed the agony that she was experiencing, before getting right down to business.

"Dr. Sophie, who approved you for treating this woman? She is a prisoner and should not be getting medical attention without the General's approval!"

She turned and looked at me tartly, while Colorado smirked at me with crossed arms.

"I approved myself, William, and last I looked you were the last one I needed to ask before treating a patient. Now if you will excuse us…"

She turned back around to Colorado and began bandaging the wound while the edgy Freelancer looked on suspiciously. It was clear that she still didn't trust anyone here even when they tried to help her. Narrowing my eyes, I stepped forward and ripped the bandages out of her hands, causing Colorado to yelp as I tightened the pressure on her wound. I expected retaliation from Colorado, but not from Sophie herself. I felt her hand slam across my cheek, but I did not loosen my grip on the bandages. Instead I grabbed Sophie and pushed her of the room, pulling the door shut behind me. In my haste I dropped the bandages though, and Colorado took the opportunity to finish securing her wound.

"I think someone is just a little bit scared of me getting into top form again. Afraid I'll kick your ass yet again, Arizona?"

The cockiness in her voice snapped what little patience I had. I walked to the one-way window and removed both the vial and a syringe from my pocket. I fit a needle onto the edge of the syringe and opened the vial of Burning Bell extract. The general had failed to specify what kind of dose was too little, but I made a guess of about twenty-five milliliters to start out with. Not much, but hopefully enough to get the job done. The vial had been fairly large, and I had over three quarters of it left, plenty for the days ahead. Turning back to Colorado, she had maneuvered so that the table was between us. I had to credit her intelligence; she knew that something was going on. That didn't stop me from ramming the table into her gut and leaping over it to pin her to the wall.

"Arizona, you better get the fuck off of me or so help me I will beat the shit out of you!"

I got close to her ear; an easy feat considering I was pinning her backwards to the wall with my full body weight.

"Try and do it when you can't move, Colorado."

With that I jammed the needle into her right arm and backed off before she could throw me off. I had left the needle there, and she pulled it out, staring at it in mixed fury and wariness. I hadn't expected instant results, so I smirked at her and left, but not before tossing a few words over my shoulder.

"Have fun tonight, Colorado."

I could feel her angry gaze scorching my back as I left, but I felt no fear; only anticipation.

_**Colorado's POV**_

The second the needle was rammed into my skin, I figured I was finally in for some trouble, and I mentally started to prepare myself. Arizona hadn't given any hint as to what it had been, and five minutes later, I still wasn't feeling anything major. The area where the needle had inserted the liquid was rather hot to the touch, but beyond being uncomfortable, I wasn't sure what to expect. However the problem wasn't going to be solved overnight; I just had to be prepared for whatever it was. Beyond my own physical and mental fortitude, I had no way to defend against whatever they injected me with. Sighing, I got back into the chair and tried to curl myself up as comfortably as possible. There was no point in staying up and waiting for something to happen, so I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep.

It felt like I had been asleep for only ten minutes when I woke up. Everywhere was just a slow, burning agony. Every vein in my body felt like a raging inferno, and it took everything I had to choke back a moan of distress that was building up. I had never been exposed to this kind of serum before, and I immediately grew concerned. Was it dangerous? Was there a cure? How long would I be forced to endure the scorching pain that seared a path through my body? I looked at my veins as I gasped in pain, and was shocked to see them raised close to the surface of my skin, and colored an angry rust color, almost like molten lava. As soon as this realization hit, it seemed like the burning grew worse, and I felt myself struggling to maintain even minor control over my own body as it convulsed, trying to escape the fire in my blood by itself. I could bet money that Arizona was watching me at that moment, so I turned to the window.

"I swear, Arizona, when I get out of here, I'm going to- AGH!"

I cut myself off as I felt a fresh wave of pain hit my heart. Every single time my heart pumped, another spasm wracked my body, and I wondered who in their right mind would give the Innies such an extreme compound. However no matter how much I cursed and wished that the pain would go away, it remained, as persistent as I was. My battle of wills continued for over an hour, before I gave up and allowed the tears that were forming to slide unopposed down my cheeks. Shame quickly followed suit, but I no longer cared. They could inject me with as much of this shit as I wanted; I would never tell them anything they wanted. I couldn't help but wonder how long it would take the Insurrection to learn this, and what they would do with me when they did learn.

_**North's POV**_

As soon as I arrived back at the _Mother of Invention_, the Director summoned me for a debriefing. Upon arriving at the bridge, I was surprised to see that Carolina was already there, along with the rest of the team. As usual, South didn't acknowledge me, but York gave me a pat on the back, and Wash nodded to me as I took a place next to Carolina. The Director looked all of us over, and then motioned for me to speak.

"Well sir, there's not much to say. Colorado was the one who filled me in on events that took place after I lost consciousness. According to her, the general and his men, upon discovering us up on the cliff, apprehended us. Colorado worked out a deal for me to receive medical attention and to be released in exchange for her not putting up a fight. As you can see, the enemies actually kept their word, however Colorado is still being held. They have threatened her with physical and mental harm if she does not cooperate."

Looking around at the other Freelancers, I saw no surprise on any faces, but concern was evident, as was determination. They wanted to get Colorado out too, and hopefully the Director would see that. However he had turned his back as I gave my report, and didn't bother turning his head as he began speaking.

"Agents, we cannot leave Agent Colorado in enemy hands. In a week we will organize a rescue mission to bring her back to the _Mother of Invention_. Dismissed."

I felt my frown deepen and opened my mouth to disagree, but York beat me to the punch.

"Sir, with all due respect, isn't a week just a bit long to organize a rescue? I'm sure everyone here could be ready to go within the next three days, including North. From the way it sounds, Colorado's situation could be dire, especially since Arizona is involved. "

Quickly, I spoke up to support York before the Director could reply.

"Don't be so quick to count our former target out either. He was quick to make threats towards 'Rado. I know that Colorado won't cooperate with them, Director. She said she'd die before giving out information about the project. However we don't know what lengths the Innies will go for the information or what they might hold over her head for it. The sooner we get her back, the less time they have to get that information."

At this, the Director turned around and watched us all with interest.

"Are you aware, Agents York and North, that half of your team is below maximum combat efficiency?"

York took up the question before I did.

"We are both aware of this, Director, but I bet we could still infiltrate the facility with a small team instead of all of us going. I bet you have a few volunteers already, and that includes me."

As if on a signal, Carolina, Wash, and myself also stepped forward. Carolina spoke up first.

"We can be prepared to go within hours if that is what's necessary, Director. There's no sense in risking Colorado for longer than we have to."

The rest of us nodded in agreement, and the Director's gaze went to each of us. The quiet lasted for around a minute, and then he sharply nodded his head.

"Very well, the four of you may go rest up, and North, I want you to have that wound of yours seen to immediately. You will all leave the day after tomorrow."

"Hey, I want to come along too!"

All of us turned to see South glowering angrily. The Director turned towards her now, annoyance in his eyes.

"Agent South, a four-man team is already a large group for infiltrating into a heavily armed facility. You will not be going on this mission."

"Oh so North gets to go?! I'm more fit for battle than he is!"

I sighed quietly as South's temper approached nova standards.

"Agent North is going because he knows the layout of the building inside better than anyone here, Agent South, though his knowledge is minimal at best. There may be another opportunity to prove yourself, but this is not it."

"…Yes, Sir."

With that, South turned and stalked out of the bridge. Everyone else followed shortly, and I halted York, Wash, and Carolina on the hallway before I splt to the med bay.

"Hey, thank you guys. It means a lot that you're willing to go after 'Rado so soon."

York chuckled in amusement.

"She's one of ours, North, plus we can see how you look at her. We're obligated to help you out."

Carolina nodded and crossed her arms before speaking.

"Besides, the Innies aren't known for stalling. They'll want to get everything they can out of Colorado, and fast. They had to know that we were going to come back for her sooner or later. I expect they'll be preparing."

"Well whatever the reason, we're going to go down there and show them why you don't mess with a Freelancer. You target one, you target us all."

York smirked at this.

"I couldn't have said it better myself.

I waved everyone off to go and rest up, and headed for the med bay. _Hang on, 'Rado_, I thought to myself, _we're coming to get you_.

_**Sorry if this chapter bores you ladies and gentlemen xD but there always has to be "paperwork" type writing before the actual action. I promise that the next chapter is going to be more exciting! Also, I apologize if the multiple POVs bother you; I just find that it's a good idea to switch characters every once in a while to advance the story.**_


	9. Chapter 9: Last One Out, Hit the Lights

_**Oh my gosh, chapter 9! :D Action picks up in this chapter, just like I promised!**_

_**Chapter 9**_

I woke up a few hours later in the interrogation room. The pain had subsided to a more tolerable level, but my head was killing me, and for some reason, everything was dark. No matter how much I blinked, I could not get used to the darkness. Figuring that the Innies had lost power or something like that, I felt out the walls, and tried to work my way back to the table. _Damn Insurrectionists! They think they can take on Freelancer yet they can't even power their own fucking facilities. What a joke!_ At last I found the chair and sighed in relief. I sat into it and leaned back, waiting for power to be restored.

"Glad to see you awake, Colorado."

I jumped and whipped my head wildly around trying to pinpoint where the voice had come from. I could tell it was Arizona, but I had no clue where he was.

"You're lucky it's dark, Arizona, or I'd be beating you to a pulp right now for injecting that… that devil's liquid into me!"

"Stop being such a crybaby; I thought you were supposed to be tough. The great Agent Colorado never fails, am I right?

His voice held a dark reference in it, and I didn't need to guess to know what he was referring to.

"Christ, Arizona! Are you ever going to let Seras Prime go? We had a mission, we were compromised, and damn it, I was not going to die without fulfilling our objective!"

"If you had just stayed with me we could have beaten them back! You know we made a good team, Colorado, and you KNOW that we could've taken out twenty-five Innies together! Yet you ran away. Why? For the leader board, I'm guessing? A useless number that somehow meant more than friendship? You never even let me know what you were doing. One minute we're fighting side by side as it should have been, and the next I'm flanked by Innies and shot to hell!"

I leaned back in my chair at his tirade, detecting his voice closer to the door. Surprisingly, he sounded sad recalling that day. I had always thought of Arizona to be an emotionless bastard (during training I had only saw him smile maybe twice), and his sense of humor was severely lacking, but he may have kept the bad memories with him. He seemed to be controlled by them. Narrowing my eyes in thought, I tried to recall anything else that might have made Arizona so angry with me. Nothing came to mind right away, so silence enveloped the room like the air before a storm. As it turned out, that storm came in the form of a brilliant idea.

The only thing that had been preventing me from calling for help had been the jammer. With the power out, that had to mean that the jammer was out of commission. If I could get my helmet, I could radio the _Mother of Invention_ and warn them about the presence of a traitor onboard the ship. However getting out of here was going to be a challenge. In theory I could fight Arizona and see if he had anything that would be valuable to locating my armor, however fighting without actually seeing would be tough. Although, both of us were on about equal ground now. Both of us were injured, and harassing his wound would give me quite an advantage. Although, Arizona was no fool; he'd probably draw the same conclusions that I had and go for my own wounds. We'd end up ripping each other apart, and no one would win there.

But I felt that I had to try. If North brought a team down here, I was almost positive that the Innies would be ready for them. I wouldn't risk North's safety for my own. With this thought in mind, and got out of the chair as quietly as possible and began maneuvering towards the door, and where I thought that Arizona was. Luckily for me, he wouldn't stop talking.

"I suppose I should thank you though, Colorado. You showed me exactly what makes Project Freelancer such a failure. The second an incentive to be the best is put into place, friends turn on one another, and bit by bit, the outcasts turn against the Director. I wish I had seen what kind of man the Director was sooner. The Insurrection may care more for themselves than anything, but they helped me get to you. Hell, I honestly expected for you to put up more of a fight, but I guess North means more to you than I originally thought. A pity General Gray released him. I bet you would've talked with him on the line. Oh well, I'm sure he'll be back sometime so-AH!"

Arizona found himself cut off as I bull-rushed into him and slammed him into the door. It was cast in metal, and was strong, but not strong enough to stand against two Freelancers. With a loud crash, the door slammed into the ground. Arizona and I couldn't see each other, but being without light didn't seem to matter. Both of us took turns landing punches and the occasional kick.

"Colorado, you're making a big mistake if you think you can escape from here! By now General Gray will be coming down here to check things-"

With a sharp crack, my head slammed into his and knocked him out cold.

"Next time if you're going to threaten me, make sure you have the skills to back them up!"

I rubbed my head to try and get rid of the stars from head butting Arizona without my helmet, and rapidly tried to check his pockets. The only things I found were a vial with brown liquid, a pistol with two extra clips, and a set of keys. The keys and gun were the most valuable things he had, but for all I knew, the vial could be a weapon. Pocketing everything, I clicked the safety off on the pistol, and decided to find the medical bay and see if Dr. Blanchard was in. She might be willing to help; after all she had quite an attitude, and had stood up to Arizona. I had to act quickly though; when the Innies turned the power back on I'd have no chance to contact the _Mother of Invention_ unless I managed to escape completely. Even then they couldn't figure out that I had left before I got extracted, or else I wouldn't really be able to fight back effectively.

Feeling out the walls, I saw a door up ahead and light coming from the crack of it. Taking a deep breath, I walked up to it and stacked up on the left side of the doorframe. _This is it, 'Rado! It's now or never! _With a kick hat would've made Carolina proud, I smashed open the door and pointed my pistol around. Sure enough, there was Dr. Blanchard writing notes. At the sound of the door she turned around and gasped at my sudden presence.

"Agent Colorado! You aren't supposed to be in here! Just what do you think you're doing?!"

I sighed and brought the pistol down to my side.

"What does it look like? I'm trying to find my armor. Do you have any idea where it could be?"

She snorted in both exasperation and amusement.

"Well seemed to me like you were trying to escape what with the pointing a gun in my face and all. And no, I don't know where your armor is; that isn't my line of expertise. However if I had to guess, it would be in the tech lab. Good luck getting to it without a map or a light source though."

She shrugged and went back to taking notes. I sighed in annoyance and looked for necessary supplies. However I then remembered the vial that I had gotten off of Arizona. I brought it out and walked over to her.

"Hey, I'll be gone in a second, but can you maybe tell me what this is?"

The doctor sighed in irritation and took the vial, turning it over in her palm before handing it back to me.

"Beats me, but I can tell you that it looks unfriendly."

"Gee, thanks.

"What? I'm a doctor, not a biologist or toxicologist or whatever you need to identify that."

Shaking my head, I grabbed a pack to strap on my thigh and loaded in a can of the stinging biofoam and some bandages. I didn't know why the good doctor wasn't stopping me, but I supposed it was because she didn't have a gun and really didn't have much of a problem with me to begin with. Shrugging in resignation, I left back out into the darkness of the hallway, but not before catching site of another door. This one didn't have any light source, but I could hear voices coming from it. I crept up to the door and pressed my ear to it. One voice I immediately recognized as General Gray.

"Thank you, agent. If you catch wind of any more plans that our enemies have organized, contact me immediately."

"I always do, General. Be prepared. Agents Carolina, New York, North Dakota, and Washington are among the upper echelon of people that Project Freelancer has to offer. They want Colorado back, and they won't give up easily. Be on your guard."

"I always am when you call me. General Gray, out."

The call ended abruptly, and footsteps started coming towards the door. In haste, I backed away and crouched next to the door where the shadows swallowed me up. When the door opened, there was no hint that I had been there. He walked towards the interrogation room, and I could only imagine what would happen when he tripped over Arizona. In my hurry to get away, I had forgotten to stash him out of the way. When the general went out of view, I quietly went into the room he had left, hoping to find any leftover files. Unfortunately, the room was bare. If I had the proper equipment I could probably track the call back, but I had bigger problems to deal with.

Wandering through the halls I had a couple of close calls with some Innies, and once I had to snap someone's neck that was about to raise the alarm. Eventually I exited the facility, and was blinded by the increase in light momentarily. I blinked quickly and leapt into the closest alcove I could find. The structure I had exited was the central structure that I had seen up on top of the cliff. Across from me was the cave system the Innies had been moving equipment in. I narrowed my eyes. The Director had wanted all of the gear to be brought back to the _Mother of Invention_, but it was more dangerous to let it stay in Insurrectionist hands. Once I found my armor, I'd have to come back and deal with the weapons. In fact, it would make a fantastic distraction while I got out of there. Looking around, I could see the wannabe garage, and the building that Carolina and her team had taken cover in during the earlier operation. There was only one other building, and that was the one to my right. The tanks were still rolling around from what I could hear, and the next time it made a pass I made a break for what I thought was the tech building. Surprisingly, no one saw me, and I figured that their sentries must be slacking.

The door slid open before I could reach it, and I quickly ducked behind a rock to avoid being seen. Peeking around the rock, I saw what looked like two scientists walking out.

"So have you made the modifications to that Freelancer armor?"

"You could say that. The general wanted us to try installing some upgrades to it, and then have Arizona try it out."

"Oh ya? What did he have you install?"

"A thruster pack; hopefully it'll make evading enemies easier. If this works out, the general wants us to try and duplicate the suit. I don't know how he expects us to create such an advanced suit with our resources though."

Their talking continued as they walked away, and I gritted my teeth in irritation. Those jackasses were messing with MY armor! However… I did find myself curious about this thruster pack modification. If it could help me escape this hellhole, I'd be all over it. The door slid open for me as I walked towards it, and I couldn't help but notice how useless Arizona's keys turned out to be. This particular facility wasn't so large, and from what I could tell, the building only had 2 rooms: one for modifications and calculations, and the other for building projects. I figured my armor would be in the second room since the scientists made it sound like they had just finished the thruster pack addition. Again I stacked up on the door, but it slid open, and I cursed. Well, no sense in going in quietly. Pistol raised, I rushed in and swept my view around. Yet again, no one was there, and my armor had been left unguarded.

At first I had thought that only running into a few measly patrols had been dumb luck. Now that I was here staring at my armor, I thought it had to be something else. For whatever reason, only a minimum number of personnel were at their posts. Keeping this in mind, I quickly gathered my armor and equipped it, starting first with my helmet.

"This is Agent Colorado, do you read,_ Mother of Invention_?"

"We read you, Agent Colorado. It is good to hear from you again!"

"FILSS? Never mind, I need to speak with the Director immediately. It is essential to the future security of Project Freelancer."

"I am sorry, Agent Colorado, but the Director is currently briefing Agents Oregon, Idaho, and Illinois about a new objective. Interrupting them would be against security protocol."

"I don't care if the other agents hear, FILSS! Put the Director on now before I'm compromised!"

"Agent Colorado! How did you manage to contact the _Mother of Invention_? I was under the impression that the Insurrectionists had a communication jammer in place."

"Director, Sir! The Innies had a power outage of some sort I believe; I managed to take down Arizona and get my armor back. However we have bigger issues, sir. Arizona is not the only traitor from Project Freelancer! I overheard a communication today from Insurrectionist General Gray to an unknown Freelancer. They know about the rescue, Director. Do NOT allow the chosen Freelancers to leave the ship. I can get out of here myself. I will radio for extraction once I'm clear. Director, I do not recommend-"

"Freeze, Colorado!"

"Son of a bitch! Agent Colorado, out!"

I spun around to face a dozen Insurrectionist soldiers with Battle Rifles and DMRs pointed at me. I glanced down at my pistol and at my newly equipped armor, and I smirked. This was an even fight that I could handle. Whipping my pistol around, I quickly fired off two shots and took cover behind an expensive looking drilling tool. Shots rang off of it and I quickly realized what a poor choice of cover it was. Looking to both sides, I spotted a heavy looking desk, but it was a good twenty feet away. I let out a growl of frustration, and remembered the thruster pack. Problem was, I had no clue how to activate it. Getting frantic, I looked at my helmet readout and saw a new symbol that looked like both instructions and a power meter. _Well, here goes nothing!_ With that, I leapt out of cover and ran for the desk, a hail of bullets streaking towards me. Ten feet away from my goal, I adopted the pose that the readout had, and to my surprise. I felt myself thrust forward, but a bit too far. _Shit!_ I engaged my gravity boots and immediately slammed to the floor behind the desk, nearly banging my head on the desk thanks to my sudden stop. _Right. Well at least it works._ I had solved one problem, only to still be under fire from eleven men. I lifted my arm up and fired four more shots and heard only one scream of pain, so I assumed I got another one. Ten men, and one extra clip left. Well shit.

The Director always said that ingenuity and adaptability were admiral qualities for agents in the field. Looks like I was going to go up close and personal with these knuckleheads. I took a deep breath and leapt over the desk, weaving behind desk and pieces of equipment, firing off a few potshots. By the end of the clip, I had managed to kill three more men, and that left seven more to go.

By now I had reached them, and started putting my hand-to-hand combat training to good use. Freelancers essentially danced when they fought. They knew right where to step when, and how to spin to avoid attacks. The higher you were on the board, the more effort they sunk into you to train you up. Carolina might have been the best at everything, but I was far from being incompetent. Soon enough, the Innies were either knocked out cold, or dead on the ground. I appropriated both a Battle Rifle and a DMR, and loaded myself up with as many extra clips as I could carry, which turned out to be only four for each. If the Innies knew I was out and about, I had a good bet placed that they had the place surrounded. It also looked like they had been authorized to use lethal force; looks like I had become more of a liability than anything. Regardless, power still seemed to be out since the lights weren't on, so I tried to hail the _Mother of Invention_ again while there was a lull in enemy forces.

"_Mother of Invention_? I am currently in the clear, but I am expecting enemy forces to regroup and push on my position. I may need assistance sooner than expected; is there any support available?"

Once again, only silence prevailed. Frustrated, I slammed my hand into the nearest table. It looked like I was on my own, and I'd be damned before I got taken down again. Now I had the equipment and the strength to take all of these bastards out, and I was going to get out of here one way or another. For the moment, I pushed everything I could in front of the door, and made sure to check and double check my equipment. After that, it was a matter of using anything I had leftover to give myself some additional cover. I also retrieved all additional clips from the guys on the ground and piled them up in even increments around my cover. Unfortunately for the Innies that were either knocked out or bleeding, I couldn't allow them to live lest they give away information about my current status, and used a combat knife off of one of them to finish the job. I did feel mildly regretful, but hey, they had made a mistake in trying to stop me, and a whole other one when they tried to kill me. Although, I had to wonder who had set the alarm, and why they knew right where to find me. I figured that General Gray must have stumbled across Arizona, and maybe Dr. Blanchard told them where they might find me. If that was true, I had put too much trust into the good doctor. Well, at least I had a decent place to hold out.

While I waited for the next wave, I started practicing with the thruster pack. By the time I started to hear noises coming from outside, I had learned how to land with it so I wouldn't fall over, and how to strafe sideways with it. I felt more confident with the pack now, and found myself pretty impressed that the Innie eggheads had modified my armor so efficiently. I magnetized my DMR to my back and slung my Battle Rifle out, aiming for the newly barricaded door. Judging from the loud crashes, my barrier wasn't holding out as well as I'd hoped. When the desks and machinery finally came crashing down and the door slid open, I saw someone I wasn't expecting. _Oh son of a bitch…_

"Arizona?"

"Oh, surprised to see me up? Or is it the armor?"

"The armor, jackass. How did you get your old armor back?

Arizona's armor had been a tan with red highlights. He always said it reminded him of the deserts of Arizona, when the sunsets would set the desert on fire with the red color of the light. Now his armor still had hints of that tan and red, but it was charred in various places from when Recovery agents had gone to clean up the aftermath. That's the reason we had thought that Arizona was dead. There had been a body in the armor, and naturally we assumed it was Arizona.

Looking at him now, I could see that the electronics and other things hadn't been repaired, but the armor itself was still at the strength of any Freelancer's. I groaned in dismay at the realization that it would be Arizona and myself facing off yet again. This guy just wouldn't give up. However, I did get a brilliant idea. I set up a voice recording, and hoped I could get him to talk enough so I could essentially make myself a voice filter. If I switched armor with him, I could literally walk out of here.

"Well after you left me for dead like a bitch, I decided to ditch my armor and fool you all into thinking I was dead so I could plan a way to get back at you. An eye for an eye and all that, you know? Once the recovery team swept by and practically destroyed everything I had, I reclaimed it. The eggheads here fixed most everything up; I just need a new paint job and some helmet fixes. Other than that my armor is capable of running everything yours does."

"What makes you think your old, beat up armor can match my own? We've gotten some nice upgrades since you 'died.'"

"Oh ya? Like what?"

"Like a verbal spam filter. I'm surprised I can hear anything you say since most of it is bullshit."

"Very funny, Colorado. Now drop your weapons and surrender. The general is getting tired of your refusal to give us any information."

"Oh, you mean information none of you have actually asked for?"

He growled in irritation.

"Don't get smart with me, Colorado. I took you down once, and I can do it again."

"Congratulations, you took me down when I had ripped open my wounds and was weak. Do you want a fucking medal or something? Try it again now that I'm a bit stronger."

I figured I had enough samples of his voice to be able to disguise my own, and now I just wanted out. Arizona didn't seem to have a gun on him, and instead pulled out the hilt of an energy sword and flicked it on. The glowing blue blade came to life, and immediately he rushed me with a battle cry. I hadn't expected the sword, but did my best to maneuver away from him while trying to get shots off. This proved difficult, as Arizona seemed to also be getting back into top form. I managed to get a few potshots off, but never connected. With this is mind, I flipped my gun on my back and took out my combat knife. I knew for a fact that a knife wouldn't stop a Covenant energy sword, but it was good for getting up close and personal with Arizona. Once I nearly managed to jam the knife into his arm, but he expertly dodged away. I began hearing voices coming closer and knew that men were on the way to support their Freelancer pal. Why not cause them to become casualties? As they filtered in, I leapt into the middle of them and set to work with my combat knife, getting rid of as many as possible. Arizona tried to get at me with his energy sword, but usually ended up cutting up his own guys to my pleasure. _I better get moved up on the leader board for this shit…_ I was assuming that I'd live since I had always been better than Arizona in some way, but he might catch me by surprise. Nevertheless, I shoved these thoughts out of my head and tried to focus as his energy sword came screaming by my neck. _Time to get down to business, Colorado!_

_**North's POV**_

For some reason, the Director had requested Carolina, York, Wash, and myself at eh bridge for an emergency briefing. All of us had been trying to rest up as much as possible in addition to combat exercises to keep us sharp, so this sudden meeting was both inconvenient and worrying. I met up with York halfway to the bridge, and fell into step besides him.

"What do you think is so important that he'd pull us away from combat training? We're supposed to go out and rescue 'Rado tomorrow; I hope he doesn't think we're going on another mission before that."

"Come on, North, no need to be all dramatic. If he does we'll just tell him to get another team; no big deal. No one is going to flake on you. Let's just get to the bridge and see what the Director wants."

Neither of us spoke after that, and just focused on getting to the bridge. When we arrived, Wash and Carolina were just getting to the door. Both of them seemed curious, but you couldn't really tell if Wash was since his helmet was on. All four of us stepped on the bridge and were immediately motioned to by the Director.

"Agents, we have just received a brief communication from Agent Colorado. The Insurrectionist base had a power outage, and she managed to escape and get to her armor to call the _Mother of Invention_. According to her, there is yet another traitor, but this one is onboard the ship, and making things worse is the fact that our enemies were prepared for your arrival. Her communications were cut off by the arrival of enemy forces at her position. I am sending the four of you down early to assist Agent Colorado."

He brought up a hologram of the facility, and I looked at it. Surrounding one particular building were several red dots, and two large ones that I assumed were vehicles or more heavy personnel.

"We believe that Agent Colorado is holed up in this building. Scans detect that someone else is in there with her, though I cannot say if it is a friend or a foe. The Pelican you will be leaving in has been equipped to take out heavy armor on the ground. While the Pelican takes out ground forces, you will infiltrate the facility to aid Agent Colorado. After you are extracted, we will blow up the structures from orbit. Any questions?"

"How much time will we have once we hit the ground, Director?"

"As much time as necessary for you to aid Colorado and extract from the area."

"What should we do about the general and Agent Arizona.?"

"Agent North, if you encounter either of them, kill them. We have no time for eliminating VIPs. You are all dismissed."

"Yes, Sir!"

With that, we gathered what gear we had in the armory waiting for us and made for our pelican. Looking out of the window into space, I found it hard to believe that it could be so calm out there when it was so hectic on the ground. _Just hold on, Colorado…_

_**Another chapter for you all :3 I sincerely enjoy writing this, and hope you all, as readers, enjoy it as well. I think there will be another two chapters, and then I'll be starting on the sequel. Oh! By the way, there will be no update tomorrow or sunday, as I'm going to a Rooster Teeth fan event on Saturday! *fangirl squeal***_


	10. Chapter 10: Fair in Love and War

_**Chapter ten! I can't believe how fast this story has gone for me xD Time flies when you're having fun? Anyways, enjoy!**_

_**Chapter 10**_

This way and that, Arizona and I took turns dodging and striking, neither one of us giving the other an inch. Men had stopped coming in, and I assumed it was because General Gray wanted to see what would happen between us two battling Freelancers. At one point, Arizona managed to slice his sword past my injured leg, and I felt the searing heat as it sliced through armor and skin. Hissing in anger, I leapt away and tossed my knife at him, which caught him in the knee where I had shot him, and embedded itself into the front of his armor. From his grunt of pain, I either hit him really hard, or actually penetrated the skin. Regardless of what I had done, he temporarily ceased his attack to wrench the knife out of his armor and toss it out of the door. The sound of his sword reactivating sent shivers down my spine as he rushed me yet again. The adrenaline pumping through my veins was temporarily blocking the pain from the hit he had landed on me, but I couldn't dodge him forever. I needed to take him down, and quickly, but I didn't have a clue how to get close enough to him without him stabbing me with his sword.

At one point, we both broke away and just stood staring at each other.

"Give it up, Colorado. You don't have anything to take me down with."

"You're like a broken record, Arizona. You should know me well enough to know that I would never fail a mission without giving my very best effort to succeed. Give me YOUR best effort, Arizona!"

"If that's how you want it, Colorado."

With that, he rushed forward again, and I flipped backwards out of his reach and towards the wall. I felt my feet hit flat on the hard surface of the walls and pushed off towards him. He readied his sword to stab into my back, but at the last minute I used my thruster pack to fly off to the right. My feet hit the floor, and I immediately leapt towards him again, catching him off guard as we both tumbled to the ground. His sword flew from his hands, landing on the ground with a slight click, and the sword turned off. Now it was Arizona's turn to go on the defensive, as my fists came in rapid succession towards his helmeted face. Most of these blows missed due to him blocking his helmet, but the few that did hit seemed to slightly daze him. However I did not pin him well enough, and he managed to get his legs beneath my chest and throw me off. I felt myself crash into one of the desks and got up, stretching to make sure nothing was injured. Satisfied that I felt little pain from the impact, I rushed towards Arizona again as he was scrambling to get his sword back. I kicked the hilt away towards the door and then rammed my knee into his chin, flipping him backwards. He kicked my legs out from beneath me and flipped on top of me. I shielded my face as he tried to beat my head to a pulp, and used my thruster pack to slide out from beneath Arizona just enough to kick him off. While he got up off of the floor, I ran for his energy sword and flicked it on, spinning around to see where Arizona was.

Arizona was up and had a pistol pointed right at me; we were about thirty feet apart.

"You're good Colorado. I won't deny that, and I would be a fool to try. But sometimes, you just have to be holding all the cards, isn't that right, General Gray?

I heard the click of a safety behind me.

"Right you are, William. Drop your weapon, Colorado. Even if you did manage to escape from this building, we have the entire facility surrounded. The second you step outside, my boys have orders to take you down, no questions asked."

"Congratulations, General. Allow me to retort."

With speed that would have given Carolina a run for her money, I ducked and swiped the sword up, taking the general's outstretched pistol hand clean off. With a yell of shock and pain, the general clutched his wrist and kneeled down. In that time, Arizona had begun firing, and I used my thruster pack to dive beneath the cover of a nearby desk. There, I deactivated the sword and strapped it to my thigh, swinging my Battle Rifle off of my back. The general had left the room, and I could hear his agonized and infuriated yelling from here. Abruptly, it cut off, and I could imagine that he had left the building to get help. As for Arizona, the firing had stopped, and I cautiously raised my head only to throw it down when I heard a shot go off. I cursed under my breath and dropped prone, doing my best to crawl between cover and get an edge on Arizona. Ten feet away from my original position, I cautiously raised my head only to find that Arizona was no longer visible. The click of a safety behind me was the only warning I received of his presence, and I hastily dove to the right before the sound of a bullet flew past my helmet.

Panicked, I wildly looked around and caught sight of Arizona to my left. I pushed myself up with my hands and landed on my feet, using my thruster pack to barrel into Arizona, sending us both sprawling to the ground. Both of us fought tooth and nail to gain the upper hand and pin the other, but in the end, it was Arizona who slammed my head to the ground, causing stars to dance across my vision. In a flash, he had brought out another blade and had it pressed against my neck. His other hand he brought around and used to yank my helmet roughly off of my head. The increased brightness made me blink a couple of times, but in the end I ended up keeping my gaze on Arizona's helmeted face. I couldn't see his expression beyond his visor, but I could imagine what it was; smug and arrogant all mixed up into one smirk.

"I have never seen such a beautiful sight, Colorado. Say hello to Nevada for me once you see-"

It was at that moment, when his guard was slightly lowered, that I ripped my arms out of their pin, placed them on Arizona's head, and quickly flung his neck to one side. The loud crack echoed through my ears. I wiggled out from under Arizona's limp corpse, expecting to feel a sense of victory. Instead, all I felt was regret, and to my surprise, a fair amount of sadness. Once, Arizona had been my brother in arm, and I trusted him with my life. Now he was nothing but a lifeless body, trampled by the might of Project Freelancer. I had mourned for Arizona already after Seras Prime, and even though he had tried to both kill and torture me, I would remember him as the man he was before Seras Prime: brave, loyal, and reliable.

It was with this thought in mind that I quickly stripped off my armor and instead wore his equipment. I rapidly clicked on my voice filter, and spoke a few words to make sure that it worked. Satisfaction flooded through me as Arizona's voice became my own. I also equipped my own armor on Arizona's body, to further improve my disguise. When I was satisfied, I strapped his combat knife to my other thigh, slung my Battle Rifle and DMR over my back, and tried hefting Arizona over my shoulders. In his armor, I was peaking at around five foot six at the most. It was an extra four inches on top of my short stature, but Arizona had always been taller than me. Hopefully no one would ask me questions as I made my way out. However, as I made my way to the door, it seemed like questions would be the least of my worries. I heard multiple explosions go off, and people started screaming. Against my better judgment, I opened the door and looked outside. I saw one burning shell of a tank, and overhead a Pelican was floating, letting loose a barrage of fire at scattering ground troops. As I continued to watch, the back hatch opened and out came four figures. Upon closer examination, I realized that I knew all of these people. However, I had completely forgot that I had Arizona's armor on, and instead of a warm greeting, I was met with the barrels of four guns. I ripped off his helmet while still in the cover of the doorway.

"Hey, don't shoot! It's me!"

_**North's POV**_

The forest raced by as the Pelican swept over the planets atmosphere. The whole view was green, but when I stood up and looked through the front view of the Pelican, I could see the craggy mountains of Vortex coming into view. We had about fifteen minutes until our boots hit the dirt, and already I could see signs of tension in the group. Carolina wouldn't stop fidgeting in her seat and playing with the slide on her pistol. As I headed back to my seat, I could see Wash was cleaning his Battle Rifle almost obsessively, as if it had been doused in blood. To my left, York had taken out some lock picking tools and was rolling them around in his gauntlets. The silence was both unnerving and calming, and I was silently thankful that Wyoming hadn't come along. He constantly had the need to tell knock knock jokes on the way to our objectives, and I had the feeling that Carolina would have killed him by now if he were here. However I had to wonder why Carolina was so quiet. Normally she would have taken control by now, and her silence was making me uneasy. I waved my hand to get her attention.

"Carolina, what is our plan when we hit the dirt?

She looked up at me, her green eyes seeming to pierce through my visor.

"We'll let the pilot take out heavy armor on the ground. Once she's done with that, we'll drop next to the facility and secure Colorado. After we assess the situation when we have Colorado with us, we'll plan our extraction."

I nodded slowly.

"Do you want anyone covering the entrances outside while 'Rado is being secured?"

"No; we don't know how many Innies there are surrounding Colorado's position. All of us will go in together, and we'll fight our way together as well."

I felt relief wash through me as Carolina's take-charge attitude returned. Though Carolina could be self-absorbed sometimes, and could be perceived as cold, there was no denying her excellent leadership abilities, or her skills in battle. After all, she was number one for a reason, and if a teammate were in trouble she would stop at nothing to help them out. The only thing I couldn't figure out was her sudden shift in attitude towards 'Rado. Neither of them liked each other, yet before our mission, the two had seemed civil. I felt my eyes narrow in thought.

"Hey, Carolina?"

"Yes, North? We have to ready to hit the dirt; what more do you need to know?"

Her voice was somewhat tense, but that hardly deterred me.

"What is it between you and Colorado? Neither of you ladies seems like the type to forget… disagreements so easily."

She looked at me for a moment, seemingly puzzled by the question. Almost as if she, too, were wondering why she and Colorado were now on civilized terms. It took her a couple of minutes to answer, but when she did, the tense tone from earlier was gone. Instead, it was replaced by a definitive, but calm, answering voice.

"After York and Wyoming stopped me from… verbally reprimanding Colorado in the observation room, I saw the look on her face. With South, you normally see pure anger. CT has a bitter silence. Colorado was angry, but she had a look on her face that said she was desperate to prove herself. That look made me realize how alike we are. We are always fighting to be the best, and constantly having to face those who think they know better. However, neither of us let doubters rule our judgment. We make our choices, and we have no regrets. I don't think Colorado herself realizes his though. In fact, I bet she was wondering why I was being so cordial in the first place. Although, North, now I'm done bearing my soul, let's focus on the task at hand. We're going to be leaving our comfortable ride soon and I'd rather not be distracted by reflections of my thoughts."

With that, the redheaded number one grabbed her sea foam green helmet and placed it on top of her head, becoming the formidable leader all of us in the project knew, and feared to an extent.

"Ok people, listen up. We're about to hit the dirt. Our priority will be to secure Colorado. Eliminating the general and Arizona is a secondary objective, but will not be actively pursued. I want Colorado secured and all of us in the Pelican within three minutes. Am I understood?"

All of us nodded.

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Good. Now, lock and load, people!"

At that prompting, all of us got out of our seats and began checking our weapons. I had brought my sniper, while Carolina insisted on just a pistol. York and Wash were loading up Battle Rifles, and also packed a couple of grenades. Carolina offered a grenade to me, but I pushed her hand away gently and stood near the rear exit to the Pelican. She nodded in understanding, and I was grateful that I didn't need to speak to convey my feelings. I just wanted to get out there and bring 'Rado back home. No one was going to stop me from protecting my best friend, and I actually felt sorry for any Innies that got in my way.

I took a few deep breaths to try and steel myself for the mission ahead. If I let my emotions get in the way, I'd be more prone to making mistakes. Mistakes could kill my team, or myself, and I would not allow that to happen.

"Coming up on target now, Agents. I am deploying missiles now to take out heavy armor on the ground."

All of us turned to cram our heads into the cockpit in time to see four missiles streaking towards what looked like two tanks outside of Colorado's position. I couldn't help but smile as the missiles met their targets, and sent two fireballs screaming into the sky. As soon as the Pelican came within range, two machine guns opened fire, and sent the visible ground units scrambling for cover.

"Ground team, you are free to go!"

At this, the hatch started opening, and the four of us immediately got into position to jump out. The second the hatch stopped lowering, we leapt. The ground came rushing towards me, and the machine gun fire got much louder, but none of that mattered once I hit the dirt. Instantly, I spun around and caught sight of Arizona in the doorway of the facility, with Colorado slung over his shoulder. I felt rage starting to bubble inside of me, and all four of us immediately set our sights on him. However, he ducked around the corner, and dropped Colorado in the process. I began to rush forward, only to stop when a clear, feminine voice cut over the sounds of combat.

"Hey, don't shoot! It's me!"

I felt myself gape as Colorado's face took a peak around the corner. Her beautiful green eyes were wide with astonishment, and she seemed generally unhurt. With relief, I magnetized my rifle to my back and ran over to the door, knowing that Carolina and the others would cover me. I grabbed Colorado and pulled her into a tight hug, which she returned.

"I told you I'd be back for you. Now, let's get out of here."

_**Colorado's POV**_

I had never been so happy in my life to see North, York, Wash, and Carolina. Though they were essentially threatening to shoot me, I couldn't help but fight the urge to throw myself into North's arms. As it turned out though, I didn't need to. The second they recognized me North began moving towards me, and the other three set up positions to cover him. Every so often their guns would go off, but a few rebels dying was of no concern to me at the moment. I raised my arms as North got to me, and he pulled me into a tight hug, which I gratefully accepted.

"I told you I'd be back for you. Now let's get out of here."

I nodded and took up Arizona's body again. North regarded the load and tapped my helmet.

"Who's your unlucky decoy, 'Rado?"

Without missing a beat, though I still felt regretful, I replied with a single word, "Arizona."

He placed a strong hand on my shoulder, and I made my way towards the Pelican. North was the first to reach it, and he climbed up the rope. I fasted a knot around Arizona's heavy body, and as North pulled him up, he dropped me his sniper rifle. I caught it and pivoted around, kneeling on my right leg. The dressings on my wound probably needed to be changed by now, but for the moment, I put all of that out of my mind as I rattled off four quick shots for three kills. Wash went up the rope next, magnetizing his Battle Rifle to his back as his strong arms sent him flying up the rope.

"York, go!"

Carolina ordered Freelancer's number two up the rope next, and he hesitated.

"Ladies first, Caro-"

"I said MOVE, York!"

"Alright, alright, I'm going."

York, being the dexterous individual he was, made his way up the rope in ten seconds flat. Carolina took a quick look to make sure York made it up, and then motioned to me.

"Go, Colorado! Move!"

I looked at her and shook my head.

"Hell no, Carolina! I'll cover you, get your ass up that rope!"

"I'M the leader of this operation, Colorado, and I am ordering you up that rope!"

"Fuck that! I'm not putting you guys in danger any more, so get up that rope! Consider it payment for the rescue."

"Colorado, if you don't get up that rope, I'll shoot you myself! I can do this, now get up the rope!"

Growling in frustration, I realized that arguing with Carolina was going to get us both killed, and I started climbing the rope. I got about three quarters of the way up; when I heard a cry of pain and saw Carolina go down clutching her right arm.

"Carolina!"

Looking up, I saw York looking out. I didn't need to see his face to see the horror that was apparent in his stance.

"Forget about me York! Get out of here, go!"

"Colorado, go secure her to the rope, and we'll pull you both up!"

I hesitated at York's suggestion. If Carolina had gone down, it meant that there was a fantastic shooter out there. In addition, Carolina was number one. If we left like she wanted us to, we would be down a number one. Who better to take her place than someone who had taken down a rogue agent and kept the secrets of Project Freelancer safe? The Director would have to pay me mind with Carolina gone, and I would take no blame for leaving her behind since it was an order.

At the same time, she seemed to finally be respecting me. For whatever reason, she was on this rescue mission to get me back, and was willing to fight with me to get me on the Pelican first. Sighing in defeat, I released my hold on the rope and dropped down next to her. She looked up at me, and I could tell that though she was in pain, she was furious.

"I gave you an order to leave, Colorado!"

"Well, obviously I didn't listen."

I picked her up and slung her over my left arm, and tied myself to the rope.

"I couldn't just leave you here. Who else would be able to be a complete bitch and criticize the rest of us? Plus, I'm not exactly leader material."

Despite the pain she was in, Carolina scoffed.

"What makes you think YOU'D be the leader?"

Despite the situation, I chuckled dryly.

"Just a hunch, ma'am."

With that, I signaled the boys, and together they hoisted us up. Once onboard the Pelican, I removed Carolina's armor off of her right arm and pulled out the medical supplies I had swiped from the doctor. She removed her helmet and stared at me I surprise.

"No matter where we go you always have biofoam."

"Ya, you're welcome for this. You may want to brace yourself; this stuff stings like a bitch."

"I'm sure it's not worse than getting sh-AHH!"

I couldn't help but snort in amusement at Carolina's scream as I filled her wound with the biofoam. Tossing the can away, I brought out bandages and began wrapping her wound.

"I warned you, Carolina. I don't know what's in Innie biofoam, but it was probably the worst thing they used on me." My amusement waned a bit. "Well, almost the worst thing."

Her emerald eyes matched my own sage ones, and we shared a nod. Carolina fidgeted a bit after I secured her bandages and motioned to the seat next to her.

"You know, we never actually had our little talk since you got captured and all."

"You just got shot, Carolina. I don't think you want to listen to me blabber on and on."

North chuckled at the both of us.

"Come on ladies, kiss and make up."

"Hey, fuck you, North! This is harder than it sounds!"

He took off his helmet and set it aside as the Pelican began leaving the atmosphere.

"I don't know, pulling off this rescue was quite a challenge," he then grew serious all of a sudden. "'Rado, what were you trying to say to me just before the general released me?"

I felt my cheeks go scarlet as I remembered that conversation, and what I had nearly admitted. Carolina gave me a knowing smirk and motioned me off.

"Oh, this is going to be far better than whatever we were going to talk about."

I sent her a frightful glare and turned to North, all the while locking and interlocking my hands in anxiety. North was sitting just across from me, leaning forward waiting to hear my answer. Could I do it though? Would I be able to finish what I had started? I took a deep breath and looked up, only to have enough time to squeak in surprise as North's lips met my own. His arms drew around me, pulling me closer. His lips were absolutely amazing, and I drew him closer as well, deepening the kiss he had initiated. Our breaths wrapped around each other, and after another minute, we pulled back to breath. I figured I was still wide eyed, and chuckled a bit.

"What was that for?"

He shrugged and chuckled.

"I considered this a first date."

At this I laughed and hugged him.

"Would it kill the mood if I told you I was going to say 'I love you' in the med bay?"

He seemed to consider seriously, but my suspicion was squashed when he smiled.

"Nah, it just makes the kiss that much better."

I could only smile as he brought me in for another kiss as we approached the hanger of the _Mother of Invention_. As long as North and I were together, nothing else mattered.

_**Oh man, don't hate me for ending on that note! I promise I'll be starting work on the sequel, and it will take place during seasons 9 and 10. After that I may write more with Colorado, detailing what she does after Freelancer collapses. Until then, tell me what you thought of the story! Did the chapters drag on too long? Was someone out of character? Were there characters you wanted to see more of? Thank you to everyone who has favorited and followed this. It means a lot to know that my work is actually hooking people :)**_


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